War of Discoveries Prologue
by Author Nicholas Drew
Summary: Did you really think 5 worlds were all that there was to the universe? There are plenty out there. This is a tale of four fledgling worlds, newly discovered by the Watchers. Read on, as the heroes of RWBY, Black Clover, My Hero Academia and Hunter x Hunter are brought together to face a mysterious foe with one goal in mind: universal genocide.
1. Chapter 1: The Man Named Sojiro

**A.N: Oh dear Lord am I excited for this. The War of Discoveries Prologue is here, folks. I know I said it would begin next year, but honestly, this is pretty much the prologue of the prologue, where we introduce a very important character. Anyway, for those of you who don't know which worlds I'm using in this one, just read on, learn how I do things in massive crossovers, and you'll learn just who will be the stars of this series. Enjoy, everyone!**

 **Chapter 1: The Man Named Sōjirō**

The ground shook as a young man who looked to be only fifteen was slammed to the ground, having been thrown over the shoulder of his best friend. This seemed like an odd friendship, but for the two of them, it worked. In this war-torn world they lived in, their idea of bonding was sparring together constantly to keep their skills sharp. Normally, they would spar in one of their homes, but the issue there was that they were far too restricted by the rules of regular spars.

Out here, in the wild, surrounded by nothing but nature, the two could truly fight each other to their hearts content, and it made them both so happy. They had been sneaking off to spar and train with each other ever since they could throw a punch. Sadly, the moment they could punch was the moment they had to train, just to survive, such was the world of the Descendants, a world locked in constant warfare as people fought and murdered over their belief that they deserved to rule the world more than the other.

The downed boy sighed, frustrated he had been beaten again. He just never could match his best friend. Then again, that guy was something special. He had reserves of power that surpassed adults. He was amazing, and the downed boy did not resent him for it. In fact, he admired him for it. His best friend was going to be something truly amazing one of these days.

The winner of this match laughed good-naturedly. "It looks like I win again," he noted, "don't look so frustrated, Sōjirō. You almost had me quite a few times."

Sōjirō sighed again as he got to his feet. "Small comfort for the loser." He complained before looking at his best friend and smiling. "Then again, you make losing fun, considering you never gloat about it."

That got a laugh from his friend. "Winning doesn't make you any better than the one you defeat. It just means…well, you won."

"There you go again, talking like your some wise old elder." Sōjirō rolled his eyes before smiling teasingly. "Keep this up, and I'm going to start calling you Grandpa just to mess with you."

Sōjirō then gazed out before him, taking in the surroundings that his friend had brought him to. He said the one thing that was on his mind. "This place is amazing," he complimented, "I'm amazed you managed to find it."

"Natural beauty like this is hard to come by, yes." Sōjirō's friend nodded in agreement. "The constant fighting around us takes it all away. I could not help but drop to my knees and say a prayer of thanks as soon as I found this place."

"Praying again? It's the gods' fault our world is at war in the first place." Sōjirō pointed out.

"No, not the gods' fault, we caused this hellish world." His friend denied. "We are still in control over our actions. We chose to fight each other, all because we've grown arrogant and proud of our blood."

Sōjirō fell silent. He could not argue with that. Much of the world's problems could be traced to the fact that almost every Descendant thought their "divine" blood gave them some sort of claim to rule the world.

"I'm sick of all this fighting, Sōjirō." His friend admitted.

"Well, that's too bad." Sōjirō replied. "We have to fight."

"I know…and that's why I'm going to actually fight to make a difference for a change."

Sōjirō raised an eyebrow at this. "A difference?" He repeated in confusion.

"Yes, I'm going to save our world. And if fighting is what it takes to do that, then so be it. The more I fight, the more it becomes clear to me that we have failed in understanding the whole point of fighting truly is: to finish a conflict."

"And you want to finish it all?" Sōjirō could not help but chuckle. "You've always been a big dreamer."

"Maybe, but…I don't want to give up on it. I want to have a peaceful world, don't you?"

"Of course I do. Believe me, I agree with everything you say. Every day, it just seems like people are fighting just because, not because they want to solve anything. It's sickening. Fighting's pointless if it doesn't serve some sort of cause." Sōjirō then sighed. "But we don't always get what we want."

"Well, then why don't we work together and increase our chances?" His friend suggested with a smile.

"Huh?"

"Stay by my side and help me bring peace to our world, Sōjirō." His friend said to him. "Nothing would make me happier than having my best friend with me in this undertaking."

"Why would you want me?" Sōjirō frowned. "Shouldn't you want someone who can actually stand as your equal? You always kick my ass in our sparring matches."

This seemed to give Sōjirō's friend pause. Then his eyes lit up. "But you're still very strong. Your father does look at you as quite the prodigy." He pointed out. "But you know what you're even better than me at?"

"What?" Sōjirō inquired.

"Teaching!" His friend said excitedly. "You could be an instructor for our allies."

"Now we're gathering more allies?" Sōhirō frowned in confusion. "It's not just going to be us?"

"Yeah, and you'd be a great teacher!" His friend claimed. "You train your little brothers all the time, don't you?"

"Yeah, because I'm their older brother, that's my job." Sōjirō pointed out.

"But that's proof that you can be a great teacher!" His friend insisted. "Come on, Sōjirō, at least give it some thought."

Sōjirō sighed. Now his friend was pleading with him. He then gave his friend a tired smile. "Okay, fine, since I know you won't stop bugging me about this until I say yes, I'll give it some thought. But just for the record, I still think you've gone off the deep end this time."

"Now come on, let's go home, our mothers are gonna tan our hides if we stay out too late." Sōjirō gestured for his friend to follow him.

Then, a few days later, tragedy struck. A mighty warlord who has been making a name for himself as the "Lord of the Night" attacked their hometown. Everyone was driven off as the warlord's men destroyed everything in sight; everyone who got away that is…

Sōjirō sobbed, kneeling in front of two graves with visible grief on his face. Behind him, his friend stood with a look of grief and sympathy on his face. "Sōjirō," he said softly, weeping as well "gods, I'm so sorry…"

"They were children," Sōjirō said, broken, before screaming, "there was no reason for them to die in this fighting…there was no reason for them to die at all! I should've been there! I should've protected them!"

In the end, Sōjirō's younger brothers became the latest victims of a hellish civil war that plagued their entire world. "What kind of purpose did killing them serve?" Sōjirō wondered. "What the hell did that damn Lord of the Night think killing them would accomplish?"

Sōjirō slammed his fist in the ground in fury. "What kind of world do we live in?" He furiously demanded. "Where this is considered normal? Where children train to fight and kill because they _have to_? Where people can then kill those children without batting an eye?"

Tears stained the ground. "They never had a choice," he said sadly, "they were forced into this life…and they died fighting with no cause to die for whatsoever…"

"Sōjirō…" his friend had nothing to say, nothing to comfort him.

"Hey," Sōjirō then addressed his dear friend, remembering something they had discussed earlier, "about what you said…I've made up my mind."

"I've made my decision, Kaishi." Sōjirō told his best friend.

Kaishi, the future Founding Emperor of Menou, the man who would one day become the Saintly Conqueror of the world, looked at Sōjirō, wondering what he was going to say next. "Let's do it," Sōjirō said resolutely while still weeping for the deaths of his brothers, "let's bring peace to this world, together!"

Kaishi's eyes widened in surprise. "Sōjirō…"

"I'm sick of all of this, Kaishi." Sōjirō told him. "I'm tired of watching people die, fighting for absolutely nothing. Let's change this world together, so that doesn't happen anymore!"

Before Kaishi could say anything else. Sōjirō walked up to him and grasped him by the shoulders. "You are my only brother left." Sōjirō told him. "And I know that you're going to one day go for this goal of yours. I refuse to let you go it alone. No matter what happens, I'm going to stay by your side and help you achieve it!"

Kaishi gazed at Sōjirō in surprise before he gave his dear friend a gentle, grateful smile. "All right," he said, "let's do it."

"Let's save our world."

And so, the two trained, pushed themselves even further until they were of age. And then, as soon as they were, they set out to begin their conquest. Kaishi would win over their followers with his heart, and Sōjirō would devote himself to making sure each and every one of Kaishi's followers could hold their own in a fight. He became the instructor for their allies, just like Kaishi had wanted. And he was actually good at it. That was what was truly amazing. In fact, he became so dedicated to his job, he was even willing to go against Kaishi's requests on occasion.

"Do you think maybe you could go a bit easier on Tomoe?" Kaishi had once requested with a sheepish smile, referring to a female recruit of their's.

"Don't even!" Sōjirō then yelled at him comically. "Just because you think she's cute, doesn't mean she's any different from the rest of my students!"

Sōjirō had to admit though, Kaishi was an amazing leader. The man could win the hearts of others through the simple act of sparing a life, or acting the part of an equal to everyone else. He would actually sleep in the camps with all of his followers. Never a fancy abode.

The man was truly a breath of fresh air in a world that had only know arrogance, greed, and destruction in their own leaders. However, he did not exactly know this was just what his world needed. He simply did what was—to him—right.

But he was also a truly wondrous sight to behold in battle. With his Art: an unbeatable power known as Lifecycle, Kaishi was unmatched in battle, as evidenced by the fight between him and the Eternal Flame, Kagutsuchi, which took place several years into their conquest. There _was_ a mountain-range 300 miles long where those two had fought together; keyword being 'was.' There were no more mountains, just rubble, dust, and a beaten Kagutsuchi. Sōjirō turned to a stunned new recruit. "You get used to it, after a while." He noted. "Your leader is an example of what all leaders should be: the strongest in every way. That is Kaishi."

 _This is nothing, the kid should've been here to see the fight between Kaishi and Susanōō. I was worried I'd have to step in to prevent any wanton destruction of the nearby living areas at the rate that fight was going._ He added inwardly, thinking of the fight between Kaishi and his most persistent rival, the great swordsman, Susanōō.

Meanwhile, Kaishi offered a hand to Kagutsuchi. Kagutsuchi looked at him in disbelief. "Why?" He asked.

"Do you know why my group is so large, Kagutsuchi?" Kaishi inquired.

Kagutsuchi shook his head. Kaishi gave a proud smile. "It's because the only lives I have taken are of those who are truly evil and unrepentant, like the Black Oni. Most of the people you saw in my forces, are those I recruited from armies that were once my enemies."

Kagutsuchi gasped in shock. "This world may require fighting to save it, but only if we fight to end fighting, not if it's just to kill our foes. I want to give people a chance to see that, and then fight for a cause." Kaishi explained. "Kagutsuchi, why don't you come with me? Someone with your talents…I think you can do much with them."

"Flames are only used to destroy." Kagutsuchi told Kaishi.

"Regular flames, yes. But these are flames wielded by a man with the capacity to be good or evil." Kaishi pointed out before smiling. "I would love to see what those flames can do if the man wielding them chooses to do something good."

Kaishi was still holding out his hand. Kagutsuchi. Then, without thinking, Kagutsuchi took his hand and was then helped to his feet. "I don't understand you," he admitted, "just what are you trying to accomplish here? All our people have ever known how to do is destroy. Do you think you can change that?"

"Indeed, tragically we've learned to do many awful things." Kaishi admitted. "That is why…I want to try teaching our people to do something good for a change. So what do you say, Kagutsuchi, would you like to save the world with me?"

Kagutsuchi thought it over. "You spared my life when any other man would've taken it." He pointed out. "My reputation for power and destruction spreads far and wide. No sane person who bests me in battle would waste the opportunity to kill me."

"That is not what this world needs." Kaishi said resolutely.

"Perhaps you're right." Kagutsuchi noted. "I have to admit, you're still insane to me, but I cannot bring myself to turn my back on a man who did the one thing no one else would have. You spared my life, and in doing so, saved it. My life is now yours to command, Lord Kaishi."

Sōjirō then watched in amusement as Kaishi began sputtering in embarrassment at the sight of Kagutsuchi kneeling. He hated when people bowed before him.

Then, years later, Sōjirō stood and watched as Kaishi rallied his troops for the final battle against an old nemesis, the Lord of the Night himself was their final enemy. At Kaishi's side were his five most trusted generals; Kagutsuchi, Raijin, Fūjin, Suijin, and even Susanōō, who had been eventually swayed to Kaishi's side after a final battle that even Sōjirō did not know the details of.

Tomoe, who had remained in the army and had eventually become Kaishi's lover, sighed happily at the sight of her beloved orating to the crowd. "I never get tired of listening to his speeches," she whispered to Sōjirō, "they are so poetic."

"Friends, comrades," Kaishi said grandly, "you've all fought so hard and sacrificed so much. When you joined me, you joined me out of gratitude for whatever reason. However, you were also frightened, because we as an army had a goal that no one else ever had: peace for our world."

"However, you stayed not because you grew to believe in me. No, you grew to believe in that very dream. My dream became your dream. With every victory we achieved and with every heart won over, you believed more and more that we could actually achieve _our_ dream!"

"A world where men would no longer place themselves above each other, over something as ridiculous as blood. The only thing that would determine who is truly better is the fruits of one's own labor! I dream of a world where our efforts determine our place! And where people are free to decide what kind of path they wish to walk! No more will people fight and die because they have to! No, if we are tragically forced to take up arms again, then let those who fight, do so because they've made that choice themselves!"

Sōjirō smiled. All these years, and Kaishi never forgot about his best friend and his younger brothers, lost to them so long ago. "My dream, is a humble world of not gods and demigods, but of men and women! Let us no longer worship ourselves, but better ourselves for our own sake and the sake of us all! My friends, this world I dream of is within our reach, it is a world of peace."

"But in order to achieve that peace, we must take part in one last battle with the Lord of the Night. His stronghold is just up ahead! Will you fight with me, just one last time, for our dream?"

Kaishi paused to allow his loyal followers and friends to cheer. "And then, afterwards, will you help me build this world?"

Everyone cheered once more. "Then follow me, to victory!" Kaishi declared.

The battle was long and arduous. The Lord of the Night, true to his name, had his troops shroud the battlefield in darkness to amplify his own power, which grew exponentially in lightless areas. Kaishi met him on the battlefield for one final duel, with Sōjirō right beside him. Amazingly, as the battle in the Lord of the Night's throne room reached its climax, it was Sōjirō who landed the final blow, ramming his fist straight through the Lord of the Night's chest.

Sōjirō glared spitefully at the man. "You may not remember them, hell you probably don't even know you caused it…but that was for my little brothers, you son of a bitch." He snarled.

The Lord of the Night looked at his two killers in disbelief at his defeat as light left his eyes. Sōjirō sank to his knees, panting. His brothers had finally been avenged. "You did it," Kaishi said with a smile.

"No, you did." Sōjirō quickly denied. "The world needs to rally around the Saintly Conqueror, Kaishi. I'm fine remaining in the shadows, as long as _you're_ the world's hero, my friend."

"Fine," Kaishi smiled, "then _we_ won, together. I'm fine with claiming your kill, as long as you share this victory with me, Brother."

Sōjirō smiled back and nodded. Then, much to his surprise, Kaishi was surrounded by a golden mist that lifted him in the air. "Kaishi!" He yelled in concern.

Kaishi's eyes went white as the mist continued wrapping around him. Sōjirō tried to rush in and save him, only to find some invisible force keeping him at bay. Then, a few minutes later, Kaishi was dropped to the ground, unconscious.

At that moment, Tomoe arrived. Instantly, she panicked. "Darling!" She yelled, rushing to her beloved's side.

"Kaishi!" Sōjirō yelled as well, rushing to his friend.

Kaishi groaned, quickly stirring awake. He opened his eyes to see the two most important people in his life standing over him. "What happened?" Sōjirō asked worriedly.

Kaishi looked at Tomoe and smiled. This knowledge she would love to hear, as a shrine maiden. "The gods," he said, "have blessed our victory."

Tomoe smiled happily. Sōjirō could not help but wonder if his friend was a bit delirious from the fight. "Well, I don't know about any gods, but I do know that we have friends who want to see their leader return, victorious."

Sōjirō helped his best friend to his feet. "Come, Brother," he said, "you need to keep your promise and lead the construction of this new world of yours."

And so it was, the Kingdom of Menou was founded in celebration of their greatest victory. The Saintly Conqueror became the Founding Emperor of Menou. And Tomoe became his wife and Empress Consort. Together, the two instituted sweeping reforms, specifically designed to discourage the actions of their people that had led to centuries of warfare in the first place.

Then, one day, other worlds were suddenly discovered outside of their own. Well, actually, that was not entirely accurate. The Descendants had always known that other worlds existed. They simply did not care. But, now that they were taking the time to observe, this new world they were seeing now could truly be viewed as their 'first'. "Look at that, Sōjirō!" Kaishi could not contain his excitement as he gazed at their first new world through a portal. "Isn't it amazing!"

"It is indeed, they seem much less advanced though." He noted. "I can't even tell if they have Reiki…or anything special for that matter."

"But they seem peaceful," Kaishi said, "and that is the most important thing. We need to protect that peace."

"We do?" Sōjirō was surprised.

"I have been trying to find a way to devote the people's minds and energies to a new outlet." Kaishi admitted. "We became arrogant because we thought we were gods, better than everyone else. So perhaps instead of focusing on ourselves, we should instead devote ourselves to watching over others."

"Watching over others?"

"Indeed, to protect and look out for them, in case something that is beyond their own capabilities arrives." Kaishi said. "A novel concept, perhaps, but if worlds with people as peaceful as this exist…then I'm worried of the possibility that there are those out there who can travel to those worlds and disrupt that peace."

"So you want to give our people a noble purpose, and protect these new worlds." Sōjirō shook his head in disbelief. "You really do try and do everything, Kaishi."

Kaishi just laughed, knowing it was absolutely true. And from that day forward, the Descendants became known as the Watchers.

A few years later, the Emperor and Empress were blessed with a child. The kingdom celebrated the child's birth. But then, tragedy struck a few years later. Empress Tomoe became pregnant with twins. But unfortunately, the twins were already so powerful, Tomoe simply could not handle the stress of birthing two powerful beings.

She succeeded in bringing two more lives into the world…but she lost hers in the process. Emperor Kaishi locked himself in the royal nursery to grieve, while the kingdom mourned the loss of their beloved empress.

Sōjirō, worried for his dear friend, walked to the nursery, hoping to enter. He stopped to see that a little girl with beautiful silver hair and blue eyes was standing in front of the door, as though she were standing guard. Sōjirō winced, hurt at the sight of her.

 _Gods,_ he thought, _she has her father's eyes, but she looks so much like her mother._

"Heiko," he said to the young princess of Menou, "what are you doing here?"

"I'm standing guard of the nursery for Father." Heiko said, surprisingly calm. "He doesn't want to be disturbed."

 _She shouldn't be this mature already. Please, grieve like a normal person, Heiko._ He pleaded inwardly.

"Heiko, I want to speak with your father."

"I don't know if I should let you in, Uncle Sōjirō." Heiko admitted. "Father does not want to be disturbed…but I can't help but feel that Mother would want you to speak with him."

 _Oh…she is grieving…the poor thing is just expressing it her own way._

"Heiko, how are you feeling?" Sōjirō asked gently.

"Mother is gone, Uncle." Heiko said, lowering her head, obscuring her face. "But…she wants me to be strong, for Father. She wants me to be strong, for my new brothers."

"Your mother left you with quite the task, but I think you're up for it." Sōjirō encouraged her. "But never forget, that even if you are a princess, even if you are supposed to be strong, it's okay to cry sometimes."

A few tears fell from Heiko's face at this. Sōjirō pulled his adopted niece into an embrace. He gently soothed her to calm her down "Now, what does your heart tell you to do?" He asked.

"I want to see my brothers." Heiko admitted. "I want to be the best big sister they've ever had."

"Why don't I help your father then?" Sōjirō suggested. "And then you can spend as much time with them as you want."

Heiko nodded and allowed Sōjirō to pass. "Kaishi, it's me." Even after all these years, he still addressed his dear friend so informally. "Let me in."

"It's unlocked." Came Kaishi's broken voice.

Sōjirō entered and was treated to a horrible sight. Kaishi was sitting in a chair in front of two cribs with two infants; the newborn princes of Menou. "Kaishi," he said, "I'm so sorry about Tomoe."

Kaishi remained silent as Sōjirō closed the door. Sōjirō then frowned as he got one last look at Heiko before the door shut. "Now listen to me," he said, "it's one thing to grieve like this, but it's another to ignore your daughter. She's grieving too, Kaishi, she needs you."

"…I can't help it, Sōjirō." Came Kaishi's voice. He then looked over his shoulder at his best friend. "Everywhere I go, I'm reminded of Tomoe. She had decided on almost every single decoration in this palace, you know. But this room was a gift to her when she became pregnant with Heiko…it's the only place she did not create herself."

Sōjirō was taken aback at how Kaishi had looked that day. Gone was the warrior who would defeat you and then offer you a hand of friendship. Now, he looked like a broken and tired man.

"I know, my friend." Sōjirō regained his composure and returned to comforting Kaishi. "But my point stands. You are a father needed by his children, and an emperor needed by his people. Tomoe was a wonderful woman, and we are all grieving."

"What would you have me do?" Kaishi asked softly.

"The same thing you had me do when I was at my lowest." Sōjirō replied. "Endure. Grieve, but stay strong. Weep, but smile too. Life goes on, even when life ends for some. You have every right to grieve, my friend. But never forget that we must live on and be happy for the sake of those we've lost."

Kaishi then let a small smile curl. All these years later, and it seems that Sōjirō was now helping him. "We both knew this would happen." Kaishi admitted. "But Tomoe was adamant in bringing both of them into this world, no matter what. I admire her so much for that selflessness. She was the strongest of us all, Sōjirō; not you, and certainly not me."

Sōjirō nodded in agreement. He then looked at the two infants in the crib, whom were sleeping soundly. "They're surprisingly calm for babies." He noted.

Kaishi smiled. "The one in blue is Chitsujo," he said, pointing to the baby in blue pajamas. Then, he pointed to the one in red pajamas, "And the one in red is Konton. The pajamas match their eyes."

"Aren't they the most beautiful children you ever saw?" Kaishi asked.

Sōjirō let out a small chuckle. "You said the same thing when Heiko was born." He pointed out.

"I suppose fathers will always say that." Kaishi noted.

"But you know," Sōjirō then spoke up with a competitive smile, "I'm sure my child is going to be even more beautiful then all three of yours, my friend."

Kaishi looked at Sōjirō in surprise. "Marishi is pregnant?" His spirits were lifted in delight at the news.

Sōjirō nodded. "Wonderful news, my friend, wonderful," Kaishi said, now managing to smile, "how long?"

"We just found out." Sōjirō admitted. "I…honestly wasn't sure how to tell you…I don't even know how I was able to bring myself to do it now."

"Sōjirō, I am glad you did," Kaishi assured him, "Marishi's happiness has always been important to me, ever since my parents adopted her into our family. And now she finally gets to start a family of her own. She used to confide in me that dream of hers. It stemmed from the loss of her own family."

Kaishi gazed at his twin sons once more and chuckled. "With three babies entering the picture, the palace is going to devolve into chaos soon." He mused.

"Tomoe my love, I hope you are watching your family. We are just as united as ever." Kaishi assured her.

Several years later, Sōjirō was watching over students in the midst of training exercises. Ever since Kaishi's conquest had ended, Sōjirō was semi-retired from battle, now devoting himself as an instructor for Menou's future warriors. Kaishi had been right, he was a damn good teacher.

"How are they, Sōjirō?" Kaishi suddenly appeared by his friend's side.

"Peace has definitely dulled our people's sense of battle." Sōjirō noted. "But that is definitely for the best. And what is important is that is just as you wanted, people are choosing to fight because they want to, not because they have to."

Kaishi nodded, satisfied with that answer. Then, a servant came running in frantically. "What's wrong?" Kaishi inquired.

"Your Majesty, the prince and Grandmaster Sōjirō's daughter are fighting in the gardens again." The servant said breathlessly.

"Again?" Sōjirō groaned. "What is that daughter of mine thinking?"

"Oh come on, a little healthy competition between friends is fine. Those two have been thick as thieves since your daughter was born." Kaishi laughed as the two went to see the results of the fight.

The two arrived just in time to see an adorable young girl with blonde hair tossing a young boy with black hair and blue eyes onto his back. Sōjirō's eyes immediately lit up in pride. Even if it frustrated him when those two got in these sparring matches. He was always proud when his little girl won.

"Well, done, Kyōko!" Sōjirō cheered for his daughter, the future leader of the Seven Saint Warriors.

Kaishi chuckled at his son's defeat. He then gazed at his other children. "Well, Heiko, how did he do this time?"

"Chitsujo's movements are still too sloppy and erratic." A teenage Heiko said with a sigh. "Any disciplined fighter would crush him The fact that his best friend can do it, when she's received the same level of training he has, is a bit disturbing."

Kaishi laughed. "Then, I suppose I'm going to have to spend a little time to help him find that discipline, huh?"

Konton looked up at Kaishi with slight jealousy. Kaishi noticed this and patted his other son on the head. "Don't worry, Konton, you'll get the same training." He promised.

Meanwhile, on the makeshift battlefield, Kyōko laughed victoriously before reaching out to her best friend. "Looks like I win again, Chitsujo." She said.

Chitsujo groaned in frustration, but allowed his childhood friend to help him to his feet. Kaishi chuckled. "Doesn't that look familiar?" He inquired of his friend.

Sōjirō chuckled as well. "The only difference is that the roles are now reversed." He proudly pointed out.

"Daddy!" Kyōko excitedly rushed to her father with her arms open wide. "Did you see that toss?"

"Of course I did, Daughter." Sōjirō said proudly, catching Kyōko in an embrace. "You will make a fantastic fighter one of these days."

"Just like Daddy!" Kyōko cheered. "And will I protect Chitsujo just like you protect Emperor Kaishi?"

Sōjirō chuckled. "Looking at Prince Chitsujo now, he definitely needs protection." He joked good-naturedly.

"Chitsujo's young, but has vast potential." Kaishi defended his son, in spite of knowing it was a joke. "He just needs discipline. He'll make a great king one of these days. Both of my sons will."

"Wonderful! I'll protect both of them!" Kyōko cheered.

Little did Sōjirō know, that day would eventually come, even though he never imagined it would. Centuries later, the day came. He woke up, laying at the base of a tree. He groaned, feeling his stomach. "Damn that Kaishi," he muttered, remembering that the man had punched him in the stomach, rendering him unconscious.

His eyes then widened. "Kaishi!" He yelled, worried for his friend. The memories then came rushing back to him.

A horrifying threat had befallen their kingdom, and Kaishi had gone to confront it, along with his five most trusted compatriots. However, Sōjirō almost did as well, only for Kaishi to knock him unconscious and leave him with what he would later discover to be the last things Kaishi would ever say to him. "Goodbye, my friend…"

Sōjirō was then found by several soldiers of Menou. "Grandmaster, so this is where you were!" The officer in the lead exclaimed.

"What happened?" Sōjirō demanded. "Where is Kaishi? That damn fool knocked me out!"

The soldiers' faces all fell. A few were already weeping. Sōjirō's eyes widened. He knew that look. It was the same look the people had when Empress Tomoe had died. No, it could not be…

"Emperor Kaishi was killed in battle." The officer said in a broken voice.

"You're lying!" Sōjirō immediately accused. "Not him! He would not die in battle like that! Don't you dare lie to me! What of Susanōō and the others? Where were they?"

"Lord Susanōō and the rest were killed as well." The officer replied. "They're all gone, sir."

"What of the rest of the royal family, are they safe?" Sōjirō asked worriedly, beginning to slowly realize that it was indeed true.

Kaishi was gone…

"Prince Chitsujo is recovering from the battle. Prince Konton has locked himself in his chambers. Princess Heiko is running administrative matters at the moment."

"Then…who will be coronated?"

"Princess Heiko has long refused the crown, so not her. Emperor Kaishi's will was just discovered. He has named Prince Chitsujo his successor to the throne of Menou, and Prince Konton will be king of the new kingdom he helped build, known as Rakuen."

Sōjirō wanted to sink back down to base of the tree. His best friend, his brother in all but blood, was gone. Once again, the nation entered into a period of grief and mourning. Prince Konton—now king—shortly after the funeral, would leave Menou for his new kingdom. Sōjirō would never see the man again. Princess Heiko would remain by now-King Chitsujo's side as his adviser. Sōjirō, meanwhile, would remain as an instructor and close confidant of his adopted nephew.

Then, Chitsujo would one day approach him with a proposition. "I want you to take on a special assignment as an instructor." Chitsujo told him.

"What kind of assignment?" Sōjirō inquired curiously. Kyōko, who had blossomed into a beautiful but powerful woman, was also listening in on this conversation.

"Menou is still in the midst of a power vacuum, even though we recently discovered that Father's most trusted warriors created some sort of reincarnation technique that passed their souls down to successors. I want to create a team of Menou's strongest, a personal guard if you will." Chitsujo explained.

"And where do I come in?" Sōjirō inquired.

"You have an eye for talent that no one else does." Chitsujo explained. "I want you to find candidates and train them. And if they meet the criteria that I will provide them, they will have the chance to join this team I'm forming."

"I'm not going to lie to you, this is going to be a very long process." Chitsujo admitted. "I'm purposely giving this team incredibly high standards to join."

"Why?" Sōjirō asked curiously.

"Because even if I want to, I can't be this kingdom's symbol of peace and safety yet. Not like my father was. It needs more than just me." Chitsujo replied bitterly.

Sōjirō gazed at his adopted nephew with sympathy. It had been a few years since he had taken the crown, and the job was wearing on him immensely. He could tell. The poor man had not yet gotten used to his role.

"What this kingdom also needs, is to be able to look to themselves for peace and safety." Chitsujo told the older man. "And I want to create a team of the best of the best that will give them that."

"And that is why," Chitsujo continued, looking at Kyōko now, "I want you to be its founding member and leader."

Kyōko gasped in surprise. "M-Me? You want me?" She said with a small blush.

"You're the strongest person in Menou besides me, Kyōko." Chitsujo reminded her before giving her a gentle smile. "And you're also my best friend. I can't think of anyone else I'd rather have protecting me and leading this team then you."

"Oh well, damn right." Kyōko said nervously. "I wouldn't accept anyone else but me protecting you."

"So, what do you say?" Chitsujo asked of Sōjirō. "Will you do this for me?"

Sōjirō nodded without hesitation and bowed. "As my king commands."

And so, for the next several centuries, Sōjirō would hunt for mighty warriors to become members of this team led by his daughter. A team that would later become the Seven Saint Warriors. Kyōko would lead as the Humility, while the man titled The Chastity would be her second in command.

Sōjirō was immensely proud of the other members of the Kanja, Majime, Setsudo, Hakuai and Yasashi all joined, they were young compared to The Chastity, but they had limitless potential that allowed them to grow into their roles. The Seven Saint Warriors became the quirky and eccentric, but reliable and popular royal guards of the king. The people loved them.

However, this happiness was not to last. Yet again, tragedy struck. 200 years ago, Sōjirō received the news no father wanted to hear. Kyōko was dead. His little girl had been murdered. Only a select few knew the details, Sōjirō being one of them. He would have gone and avenged her himself, but then his beloved Marishi died of a broken heart shortly afterwards, leaving him and his son-in-law to raise Kyōko's son alone. Life truly had a tendency to take things away from Sōjirō.

Sōjirō was forced to bury himself more and more in work to hide the pain he was in. He had to endure, for Kaishi, for Chitsujo and for his grandson. Things only got worse when Chitsujo's wife, Lady Takara, was murdered as well. Relations with Rakuen continued to decline as a rift between the two brothers continued to grow. Tragedy after tragedy struck the Kingdom of Menou, but they all endured, for the sake of those they had lost.

Sōjirō continued to endure as well, trying to train replacements for Kyōko, and The Chastity, who had retired a few years before her murder due to his declining health. A few years ago, he would find a new Chastity in a young girl named Jun, an orphaned girl. Unfortunately, he never found a new Humility to replace Kyōko. Honestly, a part of him did not want to. Chitsujo did not push the matter. He did not exactly want to replace his best friend either.

Then, last year, Sōjirō found himself approaching Chitsujo with some sobering news.

Chitsujo's eyes went wide when he heard them. "I'm…dying." Sōjirō revealed grimly.

Chitsujo remained silent, uncertain of how he should respond. Sōjirō continued to speak. "The terminal disease I am speaking of, as you know, afflicts the elderly. It attacks our Reiki supply, causing it to dwindle rapidly. Then, as our power fades, our health does as well. And eventually, we just go out like a dying flame."

"And there is still no treatment?" Chitsujo inquired.

"Some diseases simply cannot be cured, Your Majesty." Sōjirō said grimly. "I'm sorry."

"Your Majesty," Sōjirō spoke up again after a moment of silence, "I know it's most unusual to come to you with a request, but I must now, at this time."

"Anything for you," Chitsujo assured him.

"I wish to step down as an instructor." Sōjirō told Chitsujo.

"You wish to retire? Of course, you should be allowed to live out your remaining days quietly and peacefully." Chitsujo told him.

"No," Sōjirō shook his head, "I wish to step down and pursue new ventures."

"New ventures?" Chitsujo raised an eyebrow.

"I wish to take a position as a Traveler for the remainder of my days."

Chitsujo gasped in surprise. A Traveler was a Watcher who was assigned to traverse the universe, and seek out new worlds for the Watchers to add to their…well, watch. "Are you sure?" He asked. "A job like that might cause your health to decline faster. It's not as peaceful as it seems, considering the amount of travel."

Sōjirō smiled. "I appreciate your concern, my king, but this is what I want. Your father, long ago, told me that he wanted to watch over worlds to give our people a sense of purpose."

"Our life as Watchers gave us something to protect." He continued. "I…want to leave one last legacy in this universe, in the form of more people for us to protect, so that I may continue Kaishi's dream of keeping peace across the universe."

Chitsujo almost started to weep at the mention of his father and his dreams. He then got to his feet and embraced Sōjirō. "No words can tell you how grateful I am to have known you." He said. "You've meant so much to me, and my family."

Sōjirō nodded in understanding and embraced the younger man back. "I've watched you grow up into an amazing man and a fine king, Chitsujo." He said, dropping all formalities now. "I'm proud of you, and I know your mother and father are as well."

Chitsujo started weeping into the older man's shoulder. "Please," he said softly, "take care of yourself, Uncle."

That night, Sōjirō delivered the news to his grandson. "Take me with you!" Ryūji, the son of Kyōko immediately demanded.

"Out of the question." Sōjirō replied. "Your place is here."

"My place is with the man who trains me!" Ryūji denied. "Please, Grandpa, let me come with you! I need you to teach me more, I…"

Ryūji trailed off, much to Sōjirō's surprise. He had his mother's energy, so whenever he ran out of things to say, it was a rare occasion. "…I want to spend your final days with you." Ryūji told him.

Sōjirō smiled at his grandson's affection. He took him in a warm embrace. "Ryūji," he said kindly, "nothing would make me happier as well."

"But your place is here in Menou. You are a Bronze Gate now, with the potential to go further and become a Silver, or maybe even a Gold Gate, maybe even one day become a Saint Warrior like your mother. You have a duty to the kingdom that you cannot ignore."

Ryūji almost started to cry, but remained strong. Sōjirō broke the embrace and gave his grandson some final words of encouragement. "Be strong, my boy." He said. "And grow stronger. I expect that of you not because you have your mother's blood in your veins, but because of who _you_ are."

"You will grow into something truly amazing, Ryūji." He promised. "Just never lose sight of your goals, and who you are. Promise me that."

"I promise, Grandfather." Ryūji said without hesitation, putting on the bravest, strongest face he could muster.

A week later, after all the necessary preparations were made, Sōjirō was met with an attractive brunette with brown eyes and a doctor's uniform, a bespectacled young man who seemed emotionally detached, and a flamboyant man with dark brown hair, blue eyes...and seemed to be fond of standing about in strange poses. "And you threeare?" He inquired.

"Sir, I am Shūya, Lord Chitsujo has assigned me to act as your personal assistant in this mission." Shūya introduced himself formally.

The medic then introduced herself. "I'm Noriko, sir." She said. "I'll be acting as your personal doctor."

Then, the flamboyant individual struck what could only be described as an overly-hammy heroic pose, raising a hand to the heaven's above. "I am the fists of justice, I am the warm embrace of love, I am the simple ember that will one day become a flame of hope for our people!" He declared. "I am Shogo!"

Everyone looked at the man in disbelief. _He can't be serious._ They all thought in unison.

"Anyway," Shogo continued, speaking normally now, "I'm here as added muscle."

"I guess there was no way he was gonna let me do this mission alone, huh?" Sōjirō mused. "Damn brat, just because I'm an old man dying of a fatal disease, doesn't mean I can't take care of myself."

Sōjirō was still very well built and muscular for his age, but he had indeed aged into an old man. Pure white hair, a white beard, and a lot of wrinkles on his face. Noriko laughed nervously while Shūya remained silent. "Okay you three," Sōjirō sighed, "since I know there's no way I can get rid of you, you two come along with me."

Noriko giggled at his behavior. "This is going to be fun." She noted.

"Don't get too attached, Noriko, I'm living on borrowed time." Sōjirō reminded her.

Noriko just smiled. "Having good bedside manners as a doctor, means always being a reassuring force for your patients, sir." She told him.

"It is a great honor to learn from a hero of legend." Shogo claimed. "Even if you are in your final days, nothing would bring me greater joy than to remain by your side and call you 'Master.' Please Master, teach me all your heroics!"

Sōjirō found himself chuckling for the first time in a while. "You know what, I think we'll get along just fine. What about you, Shūya, anything you want to add?"

"No, sir," Shūya responded.

"Well, did you hear that, Noriko, Shogo? It looks like we'll have to do enough talking for all four of us...although Shogo, I think you could manage that alone." Sōjirō joked. "Okay you three, follow me."

Sōjirō then clapped his hands together, reciting an incantation that was invented when the Travelers were originally founded. "This door is a door to a path, and this path is a path to everywhere. Now, open and show us…this path of infinite destinations!"

With that, a portal opened, revealing a golden road surrounded by blackness. "Remember," Sōjirō said to his three traveling companions, "once we cross into this portal, we must stay on the path at all costs. We fall off, we fall into the Void, and then there's no going back."

"Yes, sir," Shūya, Shogo and Noriko said.

"Thankfully, we won't be sleeping on the path." Sōjirō added, reaching into his pocket and pulling out an orb. "This right here has our humble abode sealed inside. I figured Chitsujo would assign two attendants to me, so I made sure it was big enough for multiple people."

"A sealing technique?" Shūya finally showed emotion at the sight of something amazing and rare. "Sir, how did you manage to seal a house inside of that orb? Watchers who use Reiki to manipulate seals are quite rare."

Sōjirō smiled in reminiscence. "It was a favor," he revealed, "from someone very dear to me…someone who's like family. I've also got other kinds of seals for other kinds of situations."

"Well, come on, you three." Sōjirō pocketed the orb once more. "We don't have all day. I want to see a new world before the day is through!"

And so, for the next year, Sōjirō and his three compatriots traveled across the universe, looking for new worlds for their people to watch over. Sōjirō kept in touch with home as the year went by. He was happy to hear how well Chitsujo was leading.

However, there were some days when he received particularly troubling news, especially towards the end of the year. Konton apparently finally declared war on Menou with an alliance with villainous individuals residing in four of the most watched worlds at the moment. A world of wizards, a world of soul reapers, a world of pirates, and a world of ninjas.

Thankfully, Chitsujo had acted quickly and formed his own alliance with the heroic individuals to oppose this villainous coalition. He also assured Sōjirō that he could handle this matter, and he should simply focus on his own assignment. Sōjirō was still worried for his homeland, but in the end, he agreed with his king. Besides, a man with declining health such as his could not hope to do much, especially considering the man who was leading this villainous army.

Konton was every bit as strong as his brother. Even though they could not be more different, even as children, their level of power was the same. Sōjirō, sadly, would only be in the way. All he could do was weep for what had happened to the royal family.

 _Kaishi, I'm so sorry about what has happened to your sons._ He remembered thinking to himself.

But as always, Sōjirō remained dedicated to his mission, choosing to have faith that as king, Chitsujo could protect his kingdom and the universe that was ever expanding thanks to his findings.

In the past year, Sōjirō had found plenty of amazing new worlds. But there were four in particular that had not been discovered yet. Four that would stick out to him, much like those four worlds now engulfed in a war with Rakuen did to Chitsujo and Konton.

The first was a world of magic, much like the wizard world currently at war. It was a world of grimoires. A world where faith, hope and love is hidden in the leaf of the clover each, good luck dwells in the fourth leaf, and the devil lies in the mysterious fifth leaf.

This world would be dubbed, the Grimoire World.

The second was a world of strange beasts, mystical treasures, grand adventures, and wondrous but bloody dangers. A world where the people who are attracted to this kind of lifestyle are known as 'Hunters'. A world where a mystic art known as Nen reigns supreme on the battlefield.

This world would be dubbed, the Hunter World.

The third was a world in the midst of an age of heroes. A world where nearly every human being in the world could use a superpower known as a Quirk. A world where those used these Quirks for evil were simply labeled villains, and those who used these Quirks to protect the peace were known as heroes.

This world would be dubbed, the Quirk World.

And the final world was a world of bloody evolution. The darkest of these four, soon-to-be discovered worlds, where dark beasts known as Grimm, roamed the land, devouring innocent human beings. However, protecting the people were mighty warriors known as the Huntsmen, who used powerful weapons such as Dust, Aura, and Semblances.

This world would be dubbed, the Dust World.

Four worlds with power that currently paled in comparison to the four mighty worlds that were currently locked in a devastating war with old foes allied with the kingdom of Rakuen. However, if nurtured and given time, they could. Of course, Watchers were not allowed to interfere with worlds unless absolutely necessary.

So, when Sōjirō would discover these four worlds, his plan of course would be to simply send the reports back to his king and then be on his merry way.

Sadly, as Sōjirō knew by now, life rarely goes the way people wish it to. In fact, on many occasions, life goes horribly wrong. The elder Watcher could only take note of that as he stared at the devastation before him.

It was a world they had just discovered. They did not know what it held, nor would they ever know…

…Because everything in this world was now nothing but a barren wasteland; a global graveyard with no actual graves, just corpses everywhere.

Shūya fell to his knees and vomited from the foul stench of death. Noriko stared in utter terror at the sight. She was a doctor. She was used to death. But this? This was more than just death. This was murder. This was a massacre. This was like when cattle were slaughtered for food…and the cattle were not even eaten. Even Shogo was silent. In fact, to his credit, he was visibly disgusted by the carnage.

Sōjirō, meanwhile, stood in silence, staring at the sight before him with sadness and shock. "Gods," Shūya muttered, after finishing losing his lunch, "what has happened to this world?"

"Shūya, compose yourself, son." He said to his assistant. "Use your telepathy to seek out as many thoughts in this world as you can."

Shūya regained his composure and nodded. "Yes sir," he said, holding two fingers to his head.

Shūya used Telepathy as his Art. He could use it to communicate with people, and to track people down by finding their thoughts. However, normally, doing a global scan of thoughts was incredibly taxing on his body due to the amount of minds he would have to scan. But because of how barren this world seemed…he could do it without harming himself. After a few moments of silence, he paled. "Oh gods," he muttered, "nothing, absolutely nothing…this entire world is dead…"

Noriko noticed the body of a mother, hunched over her also-deceased child. "Who did this?" She wondered. "What did this? _How_ could anyone do this?"

Shogo grimaced, visibly furious. "Monsters, plain and simple. Monsters that we have a duty to track down and exterminate."

Shūya then gasped. "Wait, Master Sōjirō!" He exclaimed.

"What is it?"

"I'm getting someone…I think it might be an enemy. He's coming towards us with hostile intent!"

No sooner had Shūya said that, a man cloaked in black arrived. "Well, well," he said, "and here I thought we had exterminated every single person in this world."

"No, wait a minute," the man in black continued, recognizing the quartet, "you four are not of this world…you are Watchers."

Shūya eyes widened. "I can sense Reiki from him…gods, he's a Watcher, like us!"

Noriko was immediately shouting at him. "Who are you?" She yelled. "If you are a Watcher, then why are you attacking people from different worlds? We are to protect people like this, not slaughter them!"

Shogo pointed dramatically at the attacker. "Nay, we need not know your answer, fiend! You will be purged from this world for your crimes!"

Sōjirō narrowed his eyes. That cloak…it had been a long time since he had seen that cloak. And frankly, he would have been happier never seeing it again. The man in black just laughed cruelly, holding his hands into the air. "I am just doing what is decreed." He declared. "These bodies you see, they were once people. But now, they are nourishment! Their despair, their sorrow, their strife, it shall play its part in the coming of the end. Just like all the others before them!"

"All the others?" Noriko was horrified. "Oh gods, these people weren't the first?"

"And they won't be the last! More worlds are ahead after all! Worlds that can become far more miserable and tormented!" The man in black continued. "Praise be our god! Accept these sacrifices! Accept all sacrifices! Accept their torment as your nourishment!"

No sooner had the man in black finished those horrifying statements, he was suddenly slammed to the ground by a furious Sōjirō. Noriko, Shogo and Shūya both gasped at their master's actions. They had not even seen him move. The man was dying from a fatal disease that robbed him of his strength and he still moved so fast they could not see him move.

The man in black laughed at the pain he was in. "Yes, misery," he said, clearly insane now, "I am about to die. Let my sorrow at my own death be nourishment. Master, my life force is yours."

Sōjirō just glared at the man in black. "You have some damn nerve showing your face in this universe again, you bastard." He said, tightening his grip. "You and your despicable friends."

The man in black just laughed as his throat was crushed easily. Noriko gasped, having never seen her master take a life before. "Master Sōjirō," Shūya was shocked, "you killed him!"

"Believe me, Shū, the world is better off without a monster like this guy." Sōjirō said without remorse, tossing the man in black away.

"But we didn't even get to interrogate him." Noriko noted. "Sir, now we don't know if he was working alone or if he is in a group. Or what they're even planning!"

"No, we know what we need to know in order to continue." Sōjirō corrected. "I, however, already know everything about this bastard, and the people he works with."

"Huh?" The old man's three assistants said in confusion.

"I'll explain everything later, come on." Sōjirō ordered. "We don't have time for this. There are worlds out there close by that more bastards like this guy are going after. We need to get there fast and pray to the gods we get there in time to stop them."

"Hold on, we're interfering with other worlds now?" Shūya was surprised.

"We have to, I refuse to let this happen again." Sōjirō growled.

Indeed, chaos has now spread to other worlds in the universe. A dangerous new enemy has reared its ugly head. An enemy that threatens to slaughter everything in their path for an unknown objective. And right now, the seeds of death, destruction and chaos were being planted…

In the Quirk World, there was a prison known as Tartarus. A prison where criminals were so heinous, the death penalty was not enough for them. So, they were simply locked away for the remainder of their days. Sadly, with what was now happening, a death penalty might have protected the world from these monsters.

A young-looking, incredibly thin man with long silver hair and black eyes, dressed in black robes similar to the man the Watchers had just met, calmly strode through the prison grounds with an unreadable expression on his face. Then, a musclebound man with a completely bald head, no shirt and black shorts stood in his way.

"I am the Chain Hero, Bojangles!" Bojangles declared as what appeared to be chains sprouted from his hands.

Bojangles jangled his chains about in a threatening manner. Indeed, his Quirk was Chains, perfect for restraining and whipping uppity villains.

The silver-haired man gave Bojangles a dark stare. There cloaked individuals then appeared, flanking him. "Cardinal," one said to him, "would you like us to deal with this man?"

"No," the Cardinal replied, "I will."

The Cardinal then stepped forward. "I will make this simple," he said, "get in my way, and you die. A great slaughter is fated to take place in this world. I would think you'd want to die with your loved ones instead of dying alone."

"I won't be dying at all!" Bojangles declared. "I protect the people by keeping villains like you in chains! I won't back down against a damn villain like you, especially after you and your men murdered so many guards! You're the lowest of the low!"

"Humph," the Cardinal scoffed, "perhaps it's for the best then. Your death will show the world the misery of inevitability."

"Take this!" Bojangles had heard enough. He launched his chains at the Cardinal, intent on ending this fight quickly.

Later, inside a solitary cell, an elderly man with a face that was nothing but wounded tissue, due to a devastating fight with a certain hero, listened to the chaos outside. "I suppose I should be glad I'm not deaf." He mused with a sadistic grin. "Such music is wonderful entertainment."

Then, the door to his cell block was blasted open. A large object suddenly contorted and shrank into what appeared to be a hand. All of this was silhouetted by the dust from the blast. Then, the old man watched as a severed head was thrown in front of his cell. He looked at the head and chuckled cruelly.

The Chain Hero, Bojangles, was no more…

"You certainly no how to make an entrance." The old man noted.

The Cardinal then entered, gazing at the old man with an unreadable expression. "You must be All For One." He noted. "The man who wanted to be the Symbol of Evil."

All For One, Japan's most dangerous villain, gazed at this man with tremendous interest. "I am," he replied, "and who are you?"

"My followers refer to me as the Cardinal of Death, one of the Four Cardinals of 'D.'" The Cardinal replied. "I come on behalf of my leader. We have…a proposition that you might be interested in."

"A proposition for a retired, incarcerated villain?" All For One seemed amused. "Well, you did come all this way just to free me from my prison. I suppose I should humor you at least."

Meanwhile, in the Hunter World, a second man dressed in a black cloak, flanked by three followers in those same cloaks. "Cardinal," one said, "look, is that the one you were looking for. He matches the description"

The Cardinal pulled his hood back, revealing the face of a dark-skinned, bald man with what appeared to be black tally marks carved into his forehead. They were a symbol, a symbol of each god he denied as a ruler of this universe. For he was the Cardinal of Denial, one of the Four Cardinals of 'D.'

"This is indeed." The Cardinal noted, walking over to the corpse of a monstrous humanoid holding the hand of a young girl.

The Cardinal then callously tore away the girl's hand and tossed her body away. He knelt down and gazed at the humanoid corpse with interest. "So, this is the Chimera Ant King, Meruem…" he said quietly.

Meanwhile, in the Grimoire World, several cloaked individuals were gathered around a body, performing a strange ritual. Meanwhile, a third cloaked man, massive in size, with black hair that flowed about like the mane of a lion and crimson red eyes, laughed madly at what he had just done. "Destruction!" The Cardinal of Destruction yelled loudly. "So fun! So fun! So fun!"

"Maggots!" The Cardinal yelled at his subordinates. "You're taking too long! I may have to destroy more if you make me wait any longer!"

"Apologies, Cardinal," a cloaked follower tried to placate the Cardinal, "we will be done soon. This is a very long and delicate process."

"Soon, the Elf named Patoli will walk among us once more."

Finally, in the Dust World, a fourth cloaked man, flanked by three followers, knelt before a regal woman with pure white skin and terrifying black eyes. The man looked thuggish, yet regal with his cloak on, with his rough face and spiky dark brown hair. "For someone with no past to speak of, you are quite audacious." The woman mused. "You march right into my domain with your followers and ask me for an audience."

"I have no past because I am not of this world, milady." The man was surprisingly formal in spite of his appearance. "My people call me the Cardinal of Despair, I come on behalf of my leader with a proposition to help you destroy this world."

"A Cardinal of Despair?" The woman seemed interested in that title in particular. "My, my, I think I've already found a kindred spirit in you."

"We have only recently discovered your world, and many others. Since then, we've been watching you, for quite some time. I must admit, I admire your actions in particular, Lady Salem." The Cardinal said respectfully. "Please, it would bring me joy for you to listen to our plan of despair and torment."

"Out of respect for our shared love, I will." Salem, Master of Grimm, assured the Cardinal. "And afterwards…take me to your leader. I think I would like to meet the architect."

"But first, rise, I would like to speak with you as an equal." Salem ordered the Cardinal.

The Cardinal did as asked and got to his feet. "I will keep things brief, Madame, and then I will take you to my master." He told her. "My master wants but one thing, to destroy everything in the name of our god."

 _A cult?_ Salem's interest grew with each moment. _How interesting…_

"We have gone from world to world, giving each the ultimate despair and torment, the feeling of utter inevitability as they are slaughtered to the last man, woman and child." The Cardinal continued to explain. "And now we have come across your world, along with three others…and let's just say that we find ourselves with more than just a desire to destroy."

"No, we find ourselves intrigued to ally with like-minded people in this glorious endeavor."

"Interesting," Salem nodded, "so your goal is an alliance?"

"An alliance with four purposes in mind: death, destruction, despair, and to deny hope and life to all who will be sacrificed. They are our faith's four glorious tenets."

Salem just laughed. "The universe is more amazing than I ever realized." She said, disturbingly happily. "To think people like you actually existed."

"Yes, I think I want to meet your leader." Salem decided. "Perhaps it would be more entertaining to not just snuff out hope in Remnant…"

"…But to do the same to three other worlds."

And with those chilling words, a dark alliance began to form between a dark and mysterious cult, and individuals from different worlds with sinister intentions. Meanwhile, Sōjirō frantically ran across the golden path between worlds with his two allies close behind, praying to the gods that there were warriors who could help these worlds survive long enough for him to arrive and provide help.

Thankfully, there were. And among these warriors were four in particular who were truly special.

A boy who was nothing special, for he possessed no magic at all. However, that was what made him truly special.

A boy who was born quirkless, without superpowers, but when he displayed an act of selfish heroism, a hero gave him his power, and set him on a path to becoming one of the greatest heroes.

A boy with a boundless sense of adventure, who became a Hunter with the goal to find his father.

And a girl with silver eyes and a romanticized view of heroes, resolving to become one herself. An idealist living in a world where ideals and optimism are arguably viewed as a waste.

While Menou was locked in a multi-world war of its own, a second war with a great importance of its own was on the horizon. A war for the future of new worlds; the War of Discoveries was about to begin.


	2. Chapter 2: Argus Limited

**A.N: So yeah, I may have went crazy with War of Discoveries Prologue chapters. I got like three of these done. And you know what, I'm actually very proud of how they turned out. This time things are going to be a bit different folks. Because these worlds are brand new, they can't just be gathered instantly. No, this time, we'll be traveling to them one by one to recruit allies. I hope you enjoy the next three chapters because I certainly did.**

 **Chapter 2: Argus Limited**

" _It's been two weeks since the attack on Haven. The official report states that the plot to destroy Mistral's CCT Tower was thwarted by Ghira Belladonna and the Faunus militia group from Menagerie. A Huntsman and some students coincidentally visiting the headmaster were also able to lend some assistance. Unfortunately, Leonardo Lionheart lost his life while trying to defend his school. And those responsible for organizing the attack managed to escape. As I'm sure you can guess, there's a lot more to this report than I'm willing to say in this letter. But for now, what I'm trying to say is that we're on our way to Atlas, James. There's a good chance we'll get there before this letter does, but in case we don't, I need you to know that we're bringing a lot more than bad news with us. See you soon, Qrow."_

Qrow Branwen heaved a sigh as he placed the letter he had just written in the mailbox. Truth be told, he hoped General James Ironwood got the letter first. He hated having to explain things twice. He hated having to explain such heavy stuff at all. That was more Ozpin's speed. Of course, now Ozpin's status was...complicated to say the least. Consequently, if Ironwood got a letter from Ozpin, the paranoid tin man would probably think it was some sort of trick from their enemy. Well, when they got to Atlas, everything would be revealed, that much was certain. And taking the Argus Limited, a very popular train, was the first step to managing just that.

Two weeks. It really had been two weeks since that battle at Haven. The Queen's flunkies had managed to escape. Raven, Qrow's twin sister, had fled as well. Thankfully, the pawn who had perpetrated the Queen's last big attack, Cinder Fall, had been taken out. Unfortunately, Leonardo Lionheart was not exactly the martyr Qrow was claiming in the letter.

No, old Leo had betrayed them for the Queen. The poor bastard had been scared for his life, and it made him a viable target to serve as her spy against Ozpin and his faction. In the end, it appeared the Queen had him eliminated when it became clear that Leo had outlived his usefulness. In a way, Qrow felt bad for the guy. It did not excuse the things he did, but he knew that poor Leo had been placed in an unwinnable situation because of his own fears. He knew it. Oz knew it. The Queen knew it too, that was how she was able to get to him.

Before Qrow could think back on the events from two weeks ago any further, a red and black bundle of joy bumped into him, running past him. Qrow gave a confused look at his niece. "Hey, what's with the running?" He asked.

"And what's with the standing?" Ruby Rose demanded giddily. "It's almost time!"

Ruby looked over her shoulder and saw all the people in the lobby. Giddy with excitement, Ruby suddenly transformed into rose petals and started speeding past people in the lobby. Her target: a gift for her beloved big sister from the station's gift shop.

Ruby reached her destination, bought the gift, placed it in a bag (take that, Yang, you will have to wait and see what it is!) and began speeding back to her friends, teammates and family. However, before she could get far, Ruby's progress was impeded by a large mass that she actually bumped into.

It had been a long time since Ruby had made such a mistake. She knew her Semblance could really hurt people if she was not careful, bumping into them like a speeding car (thankfully with the mass of a human being, mitigating the injuries). Unfortunately, in her excitement, well…

She was knocked back. Instead of barreling over whoever it was she bumped into, Ruby was actually stopped dead in her tracks and knocked onto her rear. "Oww…" the adorable reaper moaned in pain.

Qrow, having witnessed all this, heaved an irritated sigh and face-palmed at his niece's recklessness. Good, freaking, Lord, she could be a handful sometimes. But, she was his handful. Well, time to do damage control. And judging by who she had bumped into-a much, much older gentleman-there would need to be a lot of it.

Ruby was cut out of her dizziness from the impact by a concerned, older voice. "Are you alright, Child? That was quite the crash."

Ruby looked up and saw that she had bumped into someone old enough to be someone's grandfather. Maybe even a great grandfather for that matter. Immediately, the girl panicked, realizing how badly she had messed up. "Ohmygosh I'm so sorry!" Ruby frantically yelled. "I swear, I don't usually bump into people like that! I'm usually more careful! I was just so excited and-"

Grandmaster Sojiro, former instructor of the Menou Army and now Traveler, smiled and cut the girl off. "Child, it's fine." He assured her before gesturing to his surprisingly well-built frame, considering what appeared to be his age. "Take a look. As you can see, I am in no ways injured. In fact, I think you got the worst of it."

Sojiro offered a hand to Ruby. "If anything, I should be the one apologizing to you."

Qrow caught up to Ruby. "You two alright?" He asked before addressing the old man. "Sorry about my niece, she can be a bit hyperactive."

"Oh it's fine." Sojiro assured Qrow. "I probably could've gotten out of the way myself. I suppose I was simply too mesmerized by that amazing power of hers."

Sojiro turned his attention to Ruby. "You must be quite the skilled fighter to wield such an ability, Child." He complimented.

Ruby blushed in embarrassment. "Oh, it's just super speed. Nothing special. You should see my sister's Semblance, it's way cooler."

Sojiro chuckled. "Coolness should never be a factor in determining a power's worth. It's all about how you use it." He sagely advised Ruby, unable to resist playing the role of teacher once again.

Sojiro then helped Ruby to her feet. "Besides, powers or no powers, yours is a face I could never be angry at." He admitted. "Looking at you reminds me of my own daughter when she was about your age. She was an adorable girl, much like you."

"Oh, umm, thanks." Ruby rubbed her head sheepishly. "So, why are you here on the Argus Limited?"

"I'm with some friends of mine." Sojiro replied. "We're...traveling."

Before Ruby could delve further into Sojiro's travel plans, she suddenly got a text on her scroll. She read it and gasped. "Oh my gosh! Yang and the others! Come on Uncle Qrow, we've gotta move!" Ruby frantically yelled before addressing Sojiro one last time. "It was nice meeting you, Mister! Maybe we'll see each other again on the train!"

With that, Ruby sped off into rose petals again. Qrow sighed again and gave Sojiro a knowing look before going after her. Sojiro chuckled once more. "I'm sure we will." He mused.

Sojiro's face then contorted into a look of concern. "So young...and yet already has developed her powers to an impressive level. Don't tell me this world actively allows and encourages children to fight?"

"Grandmaster?" Sojiro was cut out of his inner conflict by a familiar voice.

The elder turned to see that his three compatriots had arrived. They were holding what appeared to be four printed train tickets. "Shuya, Shogo, Noriko." Sojiro greeted his comrades with a smile. "I take it you were all successful."

Shuya nodded. "My telepathy served us well. It gave the people at the counter a sort of...hypnotic suggestion to show sympathy for our 'plight' and give us free tickets"

"And my performance as the tragic maiden who just wants to reach Atlas to see her dying father, but forgot her wallet in a hurry certainly helped." Noriko grinned before adding. "By the way, if anyone asks, Sir, you are my uncle. You are accompanying me."

"YES!" Shogo grandly declared. "In the name of love and justice we...scammed the working class into giving us free train tickets…"

Shogo's face fell. "Grandmaster, are we sure we're the good guys here?" He asked.

"Shogo, we don't exactly have what they call 'lien' in this world." Sojiro pointed out. "I'm afraid we had no choice."

"We've got no reason to feel bad, it's not like we expected to take a little excursion into this world." Noriko pointed out. "Unfortunately, the situation has changed...for the worst."

The younger Travelers working with Sojiro grimaced. On their way to this place called Remnant, a world divided into four kingdoms known as Vale, Atlas, Mistral and Vacuo, Sojiro explained everything, including who their enemy was. And it had them all rightfully worried.

"None of you have any reason to worry just yet." Sojiro assured them. "Based on what we've seen thus far, we can assume that the Cult has not made any move to commit genocide on this world just yet. I don't know why they haven't made their move, considering the head start they have on us, but let's relax for the time being. Use this opportunity to explain our situation to the leaders of these four kingdoms."

"Do you honestly think anyone's going to believe us, Sir?" Noriko asked in concern.

Sojiro sighed. "I honestly wouldn't if I were in their shoes." He admitted. "But they have to. If and when the Cult decide to begin their crusade, they'll be caught off guard. Not only that, but there are the other worlds we need to consider. There are three others that are very close by. If they destroyed that world we had just visited, there's no doubt in my mind they'll be making their move in those worlds as well."

"Shouldn't we split up then?" Noriko inquired in concern.

"No, this world is the closest right now. And if there's a lack of activity in this one, then I think it's safe to assume there will be a lack of activity in the other worlds." Sojiro sighed. "Besides, only myself and Shogo are capable of putting up a fight if we run into any Cultists. Noriko and Shuya are support. We can't spread ourselves too thin. That would put us in unnecessary danger."

Noriko and Shuya both grimaced at that statement, knowing Sojiro was right. Sojiro noticed how down they seemed and smiled. "You have no reason to be ashamed." He assured them. "We had no way of knowing we'd run into an enemy like this."

"We should move with the speed of gods then, Grandmaster." Shogo pointed out. "I'm sure we could get to Atlas faster than any train could take us."

"No," Sojiro shook his head, "we do anything like that, we risk outing ourselves as Watchers, and that will draw out the Cultists even faster. And a conflict with them will only invite negative emotions. And it appears...negative emotions draw these creatures known as Grimm."

"That reminds me, Shuya." Sojiro turned to his assistant. "Have you been gathering information about this world like I asked you?"

"Of course, Sir." Shuya nodded before pointing to his noggin. "I've compiled plenty of information that resides in here. It is ready for an Info Import whenever you all are."

"I always have a headache after those." Noriko groaned, already mentally reminding herself to take something to relieve herself of such.

"It can't be helped. We'd waste too much time if I explained it all vocally." Shuya admitted.

"Argus Limited will be departing in 30 minutes! All passengers are advised to board as soon as possible." Came a sudden announcement.

"A 30 minute warning? That's a new one." Noriko was surprised. "They definitely don't want people missing the train."

"Is this what normal people do?" Shuya wondered. "I guess we still do take our powers for granted."

"Enough of that," Sojiro said, "come, we must board the train."

While the four Travelers made their way to Argus Limited, much, much elsewhere, certain individuals were operating with much more sinister intentions in mind.

It was a dark land, where night seemed endless. Horrifyingly twisted rock formations sprouted from the ground, like a Lovecraftian nightmare. Dark pools were scattered across the land, where the creatures of darkness themselves, the Grimm, sprouted up. Inside a dark, dreary castle, a deathly pale woman with pure red eyes dressed entirely in black sat calmly at the head of the table. She was still processing the events from a day ago.

The day a man calling himself the Cardinal of Despair, came marching into her domain with the greatest of ease, and offered an alliance, citing a mutual interest in death, despair and destruction.

The woman admittedly was intrigued by the Cardinal, and his associates. So, after listening to his offer, and the truth of the _universe_ , she accepted the alliance. The Cardinal then left with two final statements. The first was that his comrades were gathering more allies for this great undertaking.

The second was that they were going to bring the Relic of Knowledge-currently in possession of those brats who ruined her plans at Haven Academy-to her as a gift, in honor of their new alliance. Salem, the master of all Grimm, and the secret, mortal enemy of humanity, chuckled at this new turn of events. It actually put her in a better mood when she had been in such a poor one due to the Haven Debacle.

Salem suddenly heard a knock on the door. "Enter," she said with authority.

A dapper, mustachioed individual, entered the meeting room. Arthur Watts, one of her four most trusted associates, still looked a bit nervous, knowing that his master had been in a very foul mood because of what had happened before.

"Good day, Arthur." Salem pleasantly greeted the disgraced Atlesian scientist.

Watts cleared his throat. "Umm, good day, Your Grace." He said, doing his best to hide how nervous and concerned he was.

Salem smirked. She knew Watts was nervous, and she loved having that effect on him. Even in failure, she would exert her control over her subordinates. That went without saying. "Arthur," she said in an almost teasing tone, "you're so tense. Be joyful. This is a happy occasion."

"If I may be frank, Madame, that did not seem the case awhile ago. As soon as you realized what had happened at Haven, well...I'm pretty sure the crater outside the castle speaks for itself." Watts pointed out.

Salem chuckled darkly. "I suppose I did vent...quite a bit." She mused. "But true failure requires an appropriate reaction. Bottling up emotions is...dangerous, Arthur."

 _So is letting them out the way you do._ Watts thought to himself, though he dared not voice such a thing. Salem did not appreciate snark from any of her subordinates.

"Anyway," Watts coughed, recomposing himself, "I came to let you know that I just received word from Hazel and the others. They should be returning a few hours from now."

"Good, we have much to discuss." Salem responded simply.

Watts then decided to address another matter that he felt was important. "Also, have we received any word from that...Cardinal?"

"Our new ally? Nothing yet." Salem brushed the matter off. "He did say he'd contact us after he or his subordinates have located the Relic of Knowledge."

"He hasn't kept in touch?" Watts frowned. "Not much of an alliance so far, isn't it?"

"Arthur," Salem lightly chided her resident scientist, "you are still far too wound up. An alliance means _equals_. Are we an alliance, Arthur? Are Hazel and I an alliance? Or what about myself and Tyrian?"

"No, Your Grace," Watts shook his head, "we are humble servants and you, our master."

"Still, if you would allow me to be honest with you once more, I am quite concerned with this new arrangement. You have given him the same privileges with the Grimm as you do with us, and you have only met the man. It is not like you to do such things without someone doing something for you, first. It is certainly not like you to agree to an alliance so freely."

"Your concern is duly noted, Arthur, but I fear you may have missed a few crucial factors in why I accepted this new alliance." Salem continued.

"I'm...afraid I have, Ma'am." Watts admitted.

"The Cardinal came to me of his own free will. He marched right into my domain with no fear whatsoever, simply respect and a desire to bring our forces together for a great undertaking." Salem reminded Watts before adopting a completely serious expression on her face. "A man who knows of me...and yet lacks any sort of fear of me, is someone who needs to be watched closely. Very closely."

Hearing those words made Watts realize that Salem had rushed into nothing, she was simply being smart and keeping the Cardinal close to her. _Even Ozpin feared Salem._ Watts reminded himself. _For that Cardinal not to fear her...just what kind of monster is he?_

"My apologies, Madame." Watts apologized genuinely. "It appears I underestimated you once again."

Salem brushed the matter off. "The point is, we have a unique opportunity to learn more about our universe...and gain allies for a far greater undertaking. With the Cult and whomever they are recruiting on our side, I don't think we'll have to operate in the shadows anymore."

"But Madame, operating in the shadows has been your modus operandi!" Watts pointed out.

"And those can be subject to change." Salem pointed out. "Especially when they are no longer necessary. I have hidden myself from the world because I know of humanity's ability to unite. And the last thing I needed, is for the world to unite against me. But uniting against an army that surpasses even the Grimm...they'll find there's no hope there."

Watts chuckled. "Now that, we can both agree on." He mused.

"Next order of business, have you managed to locate young Adam?" Salem asked.

Watts frowned. "Do you disagree with my intentions for him, Arthur?" Salem inquired curiously.

"I defer to your judgement as always, Your Grace." Watts assured her. "But Adam Taurus failed miserably. The White Fang is no more. He's just a beast with a dangerous amount of rage."

"Rage that can be useful if pointed in the right direction." Salem reminded Watts.

Watts fell silent at that statement. "Continue searching for Adam. I want him brought me when he is found."

"And what if he's not cooperative?" Watts inquired.

Salem frowned. "Then whoever is assigned to retrieve him, will make him cooperate." She said simply, but coldly.

Watts bowed in respect. "It shall be done, Your Grace." He promised.

"That will be all, Watts. If you have nothing left to discuss with me, you are excused." Salem told the not-so-good doctor.

"Thank you, Your Grace." Watts bowed once more and exited the room.

Salem chuckled, darkly amused at the turn this long war between her and Ozpin and his previous incarnations had taken. "It's a shame you picked now of all times to die and be left in the cycle of reincarnation, dear Ozpin. Those poor children you misled...they are going to be even more lost without you there to foolishly guide them."

Thankfully, what Salem did not know yet, was that Ozpin had indeed already reincarnated...into the body of young farmhand by the name of Oscar Pine, who was currently walking around the train known as Argus Limited with a look of wonder on his face. _"Really, Oscar, is being on a train that amazing? You did take one to Haven Academy, did you not?"_ Came the voice of Professor Ozpin.

"Well, yeah, but this train is the Argus Limited. I read about it you know. It's real prestigious! And it definitely lives up to the hype." Oscar replied to the resident that lived inside his head.

"That it does, my young friend!" Came a voice that startled Oscar.

Oscar calmed down to see the energetic smile of one Shogo. "Umm...hi?" He greeted the stranger.

Ozpin, however, was immediately on guard. _"And just who in the world is this?"_ He wondered. _"Oscar, be on your guard, I'm sensing something from him that's...different."_

Oscar could not openly acknowledge Ozpin, but continued to stare Shogo up and down. _He seems harmless._ Oscar noted.

" _So did Cinder and her two apprentices."_ Ozpin bitterly reminded Oscar.

"Greetings, young traveler!" Shogo dramatically greeted him. "Are you here to partake in the pleasures of the eden known as Argus?"

 _What?!_ Oscar honestly did not know how to deal with this guy. Who even talked like that?

" _Okay, never mind, he is harmless."_ Ozpin sighed. _"He's just...kooky. Still, my senses don't lie, and yours won't either when you develop them. Stay on your guard regardless."_

"Umm...sure," Oscar replied, "I have heard Argus is a pretty fun place to be. But I can't stay there too long. I have a prior engagement at Atlas Academy."

" _Careful, Oscar, you don't want to give away the reason for our destination."_ Ozpin warned him. _"We don't know if he's one of Salem's agents."_

"Alas!" Shogo was beginning to attract a crowd of people who peered out from their cabins to see the crazy man act as though he were rehearsing some one man show. "Such are the whims of cruel, cruel fate! Instead of basking in the pleasurable fun of a place like Argus, a young child such as yourself must go to Atlas Academy? Oh the humanity! People your age should only be having FUN!"

Before Shogo could continue his insane act, Noriko appeared behind him and chopped him in the back of the neck knocking him out and calming him down. _ONE BLOW?!_ Oscar was stunned.

Noriko gave Oscar a kind smile as she easily supported Shogo's entire body. "I'm sorry about him, Kiddo, he's always like that." Noriko said, before turning away.

"Always?" Oscar asked in disbelief.

Noriko laughed. "Yeah, the guy fancies himself as some sort of future hero of legend. Well, he's already a legend in his own mind at least." She joked before leaving Oscar with Shogo in tow.

"What an odd bunch." Oscar mused to himself.

He then heard the sound of Ozpin humming thoughtfully. _What is it, Professor?_ Oscar asked curiously.

" _Find Qrow, tell him about those two individuals you saw. I sensed something very similar from that woman."_

 _To the weird theatrical guy?_ Oscar asked curiously.

" _Yes, I don't know if they are enemies or not, but we better be safe than sorry. And what worries me the most is that they each carry a sort of aura about them that seems...different from anything else I've ever seen."_

 _Different as in strong?_ Oscar asked worriedly.

" _No...just different...and with the situation we are in, that itself is still concerning."_ Ozpin reminded Oscar. _"Now go, find Qrow. He needs to know of those two as well."_

 _Right,_ Oscar responded simply.

Then, before Oscar could go anywhere and inform Qrow of what Ozpin considered to be disturbing news, the train suddenly lurched to the sides a bit, as though there were a commotion outside. "What was that?" Oscar wondered out loud.

" _Oscar...I think we both know what that was."_ Ozpin grimly told him.

Meanwhile, in a completely different cabin. Sojiro shot up from his seat. "What in the world was that?" Shuya demanded, nearly curling into a ball with fright.

"It appears the train is under attack." Sojiro narrowed his eyes, hearing commotion outside.

"Is it...the Cult?" Shuya wondered.

Noriko arrived with Shogo. "Grandmaster, I think…"

"We're under attack, I know." Sojiro said, completely serious now. "Wake up Shogo, depending on who's attacking I may need his help."

"R-right," Noriko layed Shogo down, "damn it, of all the times to be attacked, it's the time I knock him out so he doesn't scare the other passengers."

"Good day," all four Travelers suddenly had their attention drawn to an incredibly pleasant sounding voice.

All four turned to the source of the voice, only to see nothing but absolute darkness surrounding them. Back in the cabin, all four Travelers had suddenly vanished. A short, young-looking individual wearing a pitch black cloak, and black hair covering his red eyes, chuckled and entered the cabin before shutting it.

In that single act, he made it seem like he was the only resident of the cabin. And he simply refused to leave his cabin due to fright from the commotion outside.

Meanwhile, Ruby and her team, Team RWBY, followed Qrow in a rush, grabbing their weapons and climbing up the ladder of the Argus Limited. The Grimm were attacking the train, and they could not let anyone get hurt or worse. That was their duty as Huntsmen, after all. Qrow managed to get onto the roof of the train before it came to a sudden stop, making him stumble about. Team RWBY let out screams of surprise at the violent jerk.

Elsewhere on the roof, the two guards of the Argus Limited, two bumbling Huntsmen by the name of Dee and Dudley, unceremoniously fell to the ground from the sudden stop. "What was that?" Demanded Yang Xiao Long, the blonde brawler of Team RWBY and Ruby's older sister.

"The train...stopped?" Weiss Schnee, the snowy haired ex-heiress of the wealthy Schnee family, was stunned, realizing that it had indeed come to a stop.

"Why would the conductor stop the train? That's the last thing he should be doing right now." Blake Belladonna pointed out.

"It was too sudden." Qrow suddenly pointed out as the rest of Team RWBY climbed to the roof. "Even if the emergency brakes were hit, the train would come to a gradual stop."

"What are you saying, Uncle Qrow?" Ruby asked worriedly as she readied her personal weapon, the scythe and sniper rifle known as Crescent Rose.

"I'm saying there's someone else here, someone who can manipulate magnetic fields like your friend Pyrrha could." Qrow revealed. "Everyone stay sharp, focus on the Grimm first and foremost. Ruby, keep the relic safe."

"You got it." Ruby nodded.

Indeed, the conductor did not hit the brakes. In fact, he was desperately trying to get the train moving again. "Why isn't this working?" He frantically wondered. "We have to get out of here!"

Then, the conductor's attention was then drawn to an individual landing in front of the train. An individual cloaked entirely in black. "Who the hell is that?" He muttered.

The individual then revealed his face, a grinning maniac with spiky white hair and grey eyes. He held his hand into the air. "Freezing Transmutation," he chanted to himself, "Devil Spear."

"What the hell? Is that Dust?" The conductor was now frightened of this new individual.

He tried to unbuckle his seat and get away from the attacker. However, the ice-user was quick. He tossed his Devil Spear straight through the train's windshield, impaling the conductor through his chest and to his seat, killing him instantly.

The ice-user giggled at the carnage. "Freeze...right...there." He said with a serene tone that was betrayed by his visibly unstable image.

Meanwhile, Dee and Dudley screamed in fright as the Manticore and Sphinx Grimm-Grimm that looked like the mythical creatures, the manticores and the sphinxes-drew near.

Then, before any Grimm could get them as a snack, the beasts were suddenly cut off by multiple blades of wind that tore through the Grimm, carving them up like Thanksgiving turkeys. The Manticores and Sphinxes let out cries of pain as they all dissolved into black miasma.

"The hell was that?" Dee demanded.

"B-backup?" Dudley weakly offered.

Qrow and Team RWBY were also stunned at the sight. What kind of monster had the power to wipe out that many Grimm in one shot? The other three young Huntsmen traveling with Team RWBY and Qrow, three former members of the now-defunct Team JNPR, stared in absolute disbelief over what they had just witnessed.

Then, a black-cloaked man with back-length sandy blonde hair and green eyes floated in front of Dee and Dudley. He had his hand held out, revealing that it was him who had fired off that powerful attack.

He gazed at Dee and Dudley with a visibly bored expression on his face. "Two plain looking Huntsmen that offer no real value." The Floating Man mused. "Just two...frankly useless guards."

The Floating Man then looked out and noticed Team RWBY, the three ex-Team JNPR members, and Qrow. "Hmm...a much stronger Huntsman, and seven brave, naive children, fighting against the winds of…" he trailed off before continuing. "...I almost said 'change', but 'destruction' is far more accurate."

"But the real prize," the Floating Man continued, using his impressive vision to take notice of the lamp strapped to Ruby's hip, "is that Relic. It appears fate has smiled upon us today…"

More individuals in black cloaks leapt from the side of the mountain, landing on the roof of the train with ease, much to Dee and Dudley's fright. "...My friends." The Floating Man finished, looking over his shoulder at his fellow Cultists.

"Deacon Fuma," the 'Deacon' of this group of Cultists, turned his attention to one of the members of his Squad, an imposing, tall man with a broad chest, brown hair and blue eyes, "was it wise to kill the Grimm? They are valuable soldiers."

"Valuable soldiers that are unlimited in number, Gendo." Fuma corrected his subordinate. "What's the harm in killing a few after they've outlived their usefulness?"

"After all, they did their job. They brought us to the relic. They were attracted to it, just like the Lady Salem explained to us. And now that we've found it, we get to take all the credit for retrieving it." Fuma explained.

 _With this, perhaps I'll receive a well-deserved promotion? Maybe to one of the Bishop Triads? No, they already have three members in each Triad. Perhaps I can be a Bishop anyway?_ Fuma wondered, excited for his future.

"Who the hell are you guys?" Dee suddenly demanded with fright. "And what are you even talking about?"

Fuma turned his attention back to Dee and Dudley. "Oh, I actually forgot about you pests. Perhaps it's time to scatter your lives into the wind." He offered.

Fuma then addressed another of his subordinates, who's features were completely concealed by his long, heavy black cloak. "Kamakiri, take care of them." He ordered.

"My pleasure, Deacon." Kamakiri chuckled.

"Oh crap, Dudley, be ready!" Dee yelled to his partner.

"R-right," Dudley was frightened, but he would fight with Dee regardless.

Then, as soon as both men blinked, Kamakiri was gone. They were briefly confused by his sudden disappearance, before they heard the sound of a familiar young girl calling out to them. "Watch out!" Screamed Ruby, who was frantically trying to run towards them with her Semblance.

"Ruby!" Weiss, Blake and Yang called out to their leader in worry, running after her with Qrow.

Both men looked around to see that Kamakiri had somehow gotten in between the both of them. "Bye bye," He said simply as multiple blades suddenly sprouted from his body, ripping through the cloak.

Dee and Dudley could only let out brief yells before they were both impaled fatally in multiple places by Kamakiri's blades. All they could do was gasp and gurgle as they took their final breaths.

Ruby sped to a stop to stare at the carnage in disbelief. "Ruby," Qrow caught up to her first, "you can't go rushing in like that!"

"But Uncle Qrow-" Ruby was cut off by Qrow placing a hand on her shoulder.

Her uncle looked at her with sympathy, understanding her sadness at the situation they were in. "I know, Kid." He said softly.

The other members of Team RWBY caught up to them. "He moved so fast." Blake was in disbelief at Kamakiri's speed. "Was that a speed-based Semblance like Ruby's?"

"No," Qrow narrowed his eyes, "you saw him make those blades. The guy's just in really good shape."

"But, are they Salem's goons?" Yang wondered.

"Don't know, don't care, the important thing is that they are _not_ friendly." Qrow pointed out as Kamakiri retracted his blades, grabbed the corpses of both Dee and Dudley, and then nonchalantly tossed them off the train and into the snowy forest.

Ruby narrowed her eyes at the cultists. Qrow was right, whether these guys were with Salem or not, it did not matter. What mattered was stopping them before they could continue killing people. Which was why her next order as leader here was quite simple.

"What's the plan, Ruby?" Weiss asked.

"Don't let anyone else die." Ruby responded simply.

Qrow quickly counted off their foes in front of them. "Looks like we've got about nine of them, ten if whoever's holding the train is elsewhere. Once Oscar and the others catch up, we'll at least have things nice and even."

"All of you stay on guard though, you got that? I am not explaining to any of your loved ones why and how you got your asses killed." Qrow continued.

"Worry about yourself, Old Man." Yang taunted with a grin, readying her shotgun gauntlets, Ember Celica. "We'll be just fine."

Kamakiri rejoined his fellow squadmates. "Deacon Fuma." He said to his leader. "It appears they want to...deliver the relic to us."

"And by deliver, you mean fight a useless battle." Fuma, rolled his eyes. "Alright then, let's get this over with."

Fuma then turned his attention to a very fat, cloaked woman with her long blonde hair in pigtails. She looked like the fat lady who would sing at the end of the opera. "Koko," he addressed the woman, "why don't you sing them...a song of battle?"

Koko gave a big smile at that, her cheeks puffed out like a squirrel's, giving her a humorous but menacing look. She stepped forward and took a deep breath. Then, she let out an operatic yell that was loud and menacing, like giant bells, tolling and signalling the deaths of others.

Team RWBY and Qrow froze in place, stunned by the sound. "What is that?" Weiss frantically wondered. "Her Semblance?"

Blake was already on her knees, clutching her head in pain. The poor girl's sensitive cat ears were taking a beating from the yell. Even the remaining three members of Team JNPR and Oscar were stunned by Koko's technique: Phantom Noise, an operatic yell from hell that stuns its victims with its horrible sound. Thankfully for the Cult, it seems to be able to judge between friend and foe.

Fuma smiled, satisfied with his plan thus far. He then turned his attention to a fellow Cultist who's shiny brown hair looked like it had been in a wind tunnel. "Hayate," he said, "kill the little one and take the relic."

"Yes, Sir." Hayate nodded, drawing a large dagger. He then crouched into what appeared to be a sprinter's stance.

Ruby managed to look and see Hayate vanish into a slipstream. However, fast as he was, Ruby was able to follow his movements...because his power was practically the same as her's. Qrow gritted his teeth, but managed to follow Hayate's as well. _Damn it!_ He cursed in frustration, still unable to move thanks to Koko's Phantom Noise.

Then, much to Qrow's surprise, along with Hayate's, Ruby actually blocked Hayate's dagger with Crescent Rose. The girl fought through Koko's Phantom Noise with sheer willpower.

"I won't let you," Ruby gritted her teeth.

Hayate smirked, genuinely impressed with Ruby's strength of will. "Well now, the little half-pint has got quite a bit of fight in her." He noted. "And, you were able to follow me while I was using my Quickstep, too. Not bad."

"I won't let you," Ruby repeated, "I won't let you hurt anyone else!"

Hayate then heard the sound of what seemed to be a shotgun being cocked. He quickly vanished with Quickstep, avoiding a shotgun blast from Qrow. At that moment, the veteran Huntsmen had managed to work himself out of the stupor Koko's Phantom Noise had placed him in.

And it was because he knew he had to protect his niece...

At that moment, Koko ran out of breath and her Phantom Noise came to an end. "I'm sorry, Deacon." She apologized to Fuma, clearly out of breath.

Fuma brushed the matter off. "It's fine, Koko, you did your best. Take some time to recharge your Phantom Noise."

Koko nodded and stepped behind the rest of her squad. Meanwhile, Hayate sped towards Ruby once more, his target no longer just the relic. He wanted to see just how strong the little girl really was. "I'm coming for you!" He yelled at the girl.

Ruby quickly blocked Hayate's second strike. "Hang on, Ruby!" Yang yelled, going to help her sister.

"Don't take your eyes off us, you brats!" Yang, Weiss and Blake turned to see that five of the nine seen individuals were coming towards them.

"Hold them off!" Qrow yelled. "I'm going after the leader and the singing fat lady!"

With that, Qrow transformed into an actual crow and flew past the five attackers. "You heard him, girls, let's go!" Yang declared, leading the charge against the five cultists.

Meanwhile, Jaune Arc, the leader of the former Team JNPR, immediately focused on the safety of his friends. "Nora, Ren, we've gotta help Team RWBY!" He ordered.

Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren both nodded without hesitation. Jaune looked over his shoulder to call to Oscar to come and assist them, only to find himself calling out a warning to the young farm boy instead. "Watch out behind you!" He yelled.

Oscar turned to see that the ice-user who had killed the conductor was now on the roof. "A child," the ice-user grinned, "you poor boy. You're not ready for the hell I'm going to unleash upon you."

" _Oscar, let me take over."_ Ozpin told him.

"No way, I'm going to keep control this time." Oscar insisted.

" _Oscar, we don't have time to argue about this. These people are extremely dangerous."_

"Do they work for Salem?" Oscar asked.

" _In all my years, I've never seen anyone like this. Please, Oscar, let me take over. We can't afford to get bogged down fighting this man, not with the relic at stake."_

Oscar gritted his teeth. He hated being useless like this, but he knew that Ozpin was right. "Okay, take him out quick and go help the others." He said before his eyes changed to show a more experienced look, rather than his youthful inexperience.

The ice-user froze in place when he noticed the change in Oscar's demeanor. "Now then," said Professor Ozpin, in full control of Oscar's body, "let's get this over with."

"There's...something different about you." The ice-user noted before smirking. "Interesting."

Meanwhile, Yang, being the firecracker she was, was the first of the rest of the group to reach the five charging foes. Unfortunately, she was met by Kamakiri, who displayed surprising foresight to attack the enemy who fought up close and personal.

"Die!" Kamakiri hissed as blades sprouted out of his body once more.

At that moment, Yang's confidence and readiness to fight fight for her friends and family vanished at the sight of the blades coming towards her, ready to impale her. Her mind flashed back to that very night where she lost her arm to the so-called Faunus freedom-fighter and High Leader of the White Fang, Adam Taurus.

Eyes widening, Yang instinctively leapt back from Kamakiri's blades, her body shaking. The poor girl. As hard as she has tried to move forward, Adam's actions still had a huge effect on her psyche. Kamakiri noticed this and chuckled. "Afraid, already? Delicious...so delicious." A long tongue appeared from the hood, licking pale-red lips.

"Yang!" Blake noticed her partner and best friend's distress and almost immediately forgot about her opponent to try and help her.

"Never take your eyes off the enemy, fool!" Blake was interrupted by her opponent. "Lunging Snake!"

Blake gasped as she was suddenly punched in the stomach by an outstretched arm. And by outstretched, we mean extended to ridiculous lengths. "Was that his Semblance?" Blake wondered.

Blake's opponent had a long face that reminded her of a snake, pitch black hair and green eyes. He then revealed his own tongue...which actually was snake-like. Naturally, Blake put two and two together. "A Faunus?" Blake was stunned. "I don't understand, why are you aiding these people? Haven't you realized by now what becomes of our people if we allow hatred to rule us like humans did? Have you not learned from the White Fang's mistakes?"

Blake's opponent just laughed. "A Faunus, me? No, I'm no Faunus. I'm also not human. You know, in a way I feel bad for you. You children have no idea how large the universe truly is."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Blake demanded.

"Try to find the answer yourself, before I turn you from a Faunus to a corpse that is." The snake man replied.

Blake's eyes widened with fright. This guy...she did not know who or what he was, but he was clearly no stranger to fighting, and to murder.

Finally, Weiss found herself staring face to face with a dark-skinned cultist dressed in the usual dark cloak, but had adorned it with what appeared to be ceremonial, ritualistic rings all over his body. Next to him was a fiery redhead who suspiciously reminded Weiss of Yang. The ring-wearer addressed his fiery comrade. "Her appearance is a dead giveaway," he noted, "Hinatsu, you take care of this one. Gendo and I will deal with those three children coming to back them up."

"What do you mean it's a dead giveaway?" Hinatsu asked in confusion before the ring-wearer rocketed past Weiss with a bolt of lightning trailing behind him.

"Hey, don't leave my question unanswered, jerk!" Hinatsu yelled in frustration.

 _She's distracted!_ Weiss thought, inwardly surprised at her making such a rookie mistake. _I can use this opportunity to strike her down._

Weiss created a few glyphs to increase her speed and then rocketed towards Hinatsu like a speed skater. She held her rapier, Myrtenaster, out in front of her, ready to impale Hinatsu before she even had the chance to fight back.

Merely a foot away from impalement, Hinatsu nonchalantly grabbed Myrtenaster, stopping Weiss dead in her tracks. Weiss's eyes widened in utter disbelief at how easily Hinatsu had managed such a feat.

"That's impossible…" she said breathlessly.

"Perhaps to the fragile." Hinatsu replied before smirking arrogantly. "But not to us."

Meanwhile, Jaune, Ren and Nora were stopped dead in their tracks by the ring-wearer, and the broad-chested man known as Gendo. "You have two options." Gendo told them. "Die here, or die with your friends."

"How about neither?" Jaune drew his sword and shield.

"That is not an option." The ring-wearer said in a matter of fact tone as lightning crackled around his body.

"Executioner's Bolt!" The ring-wearer yelled, firing a powerful bolt of lightning at the three Huntsmen.

"Nora!" Jaune yelled.

"On it!" Nora stood in front of Jaune and Ren, much to the confusion of their two opponents.

Then, Nora took the Executioner's Bolt head-on, roaring with power as her body absorbed the electricity. Gendo's eyes widened in realization. "Oh damn…" he muttered.

Nora let out another roar as she was surrounded by an electric blue aura. "Oh yeah!" She yelled. "Now this is power!"

Ren was gazing at Nora in disbelief. _I've never sensed so much energy in Nora at once._ He noted. _Just how powerful was that bolt of lightning?_

Jaune grinned. "Nora, get them." He ordered. "But be careful, we can't destroy any of the cars in the process."

"Music to my ears, Jauney boy!" Nora yelled, raising her hammer, Magnhild.

Nora rocketed towards their foes with increased speed and force, ready to wipe out both men in one hit. "RAH!" Nora yelled, swinging Magnhild and creating an explosion of electric energy that could have very well been a danger to the passenger cars, had Nora not been so careful in her aim. The worst that happened was the cars began to shake from the sheer force of the impact. The passengers all screamed in fear, wondering what was happening outside.

"Did we get them?" Ren wondered.

"We had to have." Jaune muttered.

Then, when the smoke cleared, the two saw, much to their horror, Nora stopped dead in her tracks by Gendo, who had leapt to his ally's defense. Magnhild was being stopped by what appeared to be some sort of spatial portal.

"No way…" Jaune could only say.

Gendo breathed a sigh of relief. "Not bad," he complimented Nora, "had I deployed my Gate a second later, we'd have been in trouble."

"What did you do?" Nora demanded.

"I absorbed all the various energies of that attack into my Gate." Gendo explained. "Kinetic energy, electricity, you name it. I absorbed it and then converted it into power of my own.. And now, you can have it all back."

The portal suddenly shined a bright white light. Nora was then suddenly sent back flying with a scream of shock and pain as Gendo's power returned her attack with just as much force. Jaune and Ren could only watch in horror as their friend went flying past them. "Nora!" Ren yelled in concern, rushing to her aid.

"That was far too close for comfort." Gendo muttered before turning to his ring-wearing comrade. "Sanga, your carelessness almost cost us. Death in the name of our god means nothing if we do not accomplish our missions first."

Sanga nodded in understanding. "I am aware of that. We must stay alive as long as possible to feed him with the deaths misery of these worlds. Only then, can we die. Those of our faith must die happy, knowing they have accomplished much in the name of our god."

Jaune overheard their conversation and was now very confusion. _Who in the world are they talking about? They can't be talking about Salem._ Jaune noted. _That Tyrian referred to Salem as a goddess, and they're talking about a_ _ **god**_ _. Who are these people?_

Jaune looked over his shoulder to see that Ren had reached Nora. Even from this distance, he could tell that Nora was badly injured. _I've gotta get to Nora and help heal her...but if I turn my back on either of these guys, we'll be in trouble. What do I do?_

"You seem troubled, boy." Gendo mused, drawing Jaune's attention.

"You are stressed by the horrors around you." Sanga noted. "Worry not...we will free you from the burden of life."

Meanwhile, Ozpin-in Oscar's body-clashed with the ice-user. Much to the frustration of the headmaster of Beacon Academy, every time he swung his cane, the ice-user had the foresight to freeze the water molecules between them and create barriers of ice that blocked his attacks.

 _What's wrong?_ Oscar asked Ozpin. _Is he really that strong?_

" _It's not that he's too strong for me...I'm still exhausted from that fight in Haven."_ Ozpin admitted. _"If I were at full strength, he wouldn't stand a chance."_

The ice-user giggled at Ozpin's seemingly futile attempts at attacking him. "The Cardinal wants to destroy all hope." He noted. "I feel the same way. I can't wait to see the look of despair that will be frozen on your face. That very moment when you realize there's no hope in winning...oh it's going to be exquisite."

"With all due respect, I have not given up yet." Ozpin calmly told the ice-user. "So I suggest you not declare victory right this minute."

"And furthermore, just who is this Cardinal that you speak so reverently of?" Ozpin continued. "By your actions today, I believe it's fair to say he's an enemy of Remnant?"

The ice-user chuckled gleefully. "Not just Remnant," he taunted, "not just Remnant. The whole universe is our enemy."

 _He's insane._ Oscar noted in a matter-of-fact tone.

" _He's quite sane...as sane as men like him come, anyway."_ Ozpin shook his head. _"He is absolutely convinced their entire enemy is the universe. I don't know how he came to believe such a thing, but a danger like him cannot be allowed to walk freely."_

"Now then, let me savor your hopelessness." The ice-user said with a mad grin, holding his hand out in front of him. "Freezing Transmutation: Devil Star!"

Oscar and Ozpin both watched as a large windmill shuriken made of ice appeared in the ice-user's hand. "Oscar, I apologize ahead of time if I have to push your body to its limits to beat this man." Ozpin told him.

 _No problem...I don't exactly want to die you know._ Oscar pointed out.

Meanwhile, Qrow exited his avian form to launch an attack on Deacon Fuma, Koko, and the last of the nine cultists, a behemoth of a being in a black suit of armor. Right now though, Qrow's attention was only focused on Fuma. "The final boss!" Qrow declared, swinging his scythe at Fuma.

"Air Press!" Fuma swiped his arm to the side.

Qrow was suddenly pushed away by what felt like a large punch to the side. _Did he just manipulate the air?_ Qrow could not believe it. Manipulating nature itself like that was usually something reserved for the Maidens. Who was this guy?

He could not let up though. This guy was their leader, and that fat singer was the reason they almost got killed in the first place. He had to take them both out, quick. Qrow quickly fired multiple shotgun shells at Fuma, only for him to erect a barrier of air that stopped the bullets in their tracks.

"Such unique weapons." Fuma mused. "Out of all the worlds we've travelled too...and subsequently turned into baron wastelands, you most certainly have the most interesting weapons."

Qrow glared at Fuma and charged towards him. _I'll just cut right through those barriers of his!_

"However, you are still only human." Fuma added, waving his arm out in front of him.

Qrow was suddenly stopped right in front of Fuma. Multiple lacerations appeared around his body as air blades tore right through his Aura. "And that means...you fall apart the same as all the others."

Qrow gasped in pain for a brief moment before regaining his composure and swinging his scythe at Fuma. Fuma's eyes widened. He let his guard down for a brief second and Qrow managed to cut into _him_ now.

Fuma grunted in pain, clutching his fresh new wound. "Deacon!" Koko called out in concern.

Fuma looked at the blood on his hand now. It had been a long time since he had seen his own blood. "He wounded me." He muttered in disbelief.

Qrow chuckled. Sometimes his bad luck was a pain...sometimes it was not. Fuma's attack had missed all of Qrow's nerves and muscles, which meant he could still move in spite of the pain he was in.

Fuma glared at Qrow in anger. "You shouldn't have done that you bastard." He growled.

"What's wrong, pal, you can dish it out, but you can't take it?" Qrow taunted as his Aura began to work to heal his injuries.

"No, you're just going to suffer even more now." Fuma replied in a matter-of-fact tone.

"No kidding," Koko shook her head, "nice knowing you, birdman."

Qrow was admittedly confused by the tone of voice in Fuma and Koko's voice. Then, he heard and felt what seemed to be heavy breathing on his shoulder. "Oh, and one more thing," Fuma continued, "I'm not the final boss today. He is."

Qrow looked over his shoulder just as he was grabbed and driven into the roof of the passenger car he was on. His attacker? The black knight that had been with Fuma and Koko. _When did he get behind me?_ Qrow wondered. _How fast is that thing?_

"Unfortunately for you, he tends to react _violently_ whenever he sees one of his own injured in a fight. Consider him our secret weapon for this mission." Fuma revealed. "You, however, can just call him the Black Knight."

Qrow glared defiantly at Fuma, only to be grabbed by the air and slammed face-first into the roof. The Black Knight remained eerily silent as it began to torture the veteran Huntsman.

Ruby noticed her uncle in danger and yelled out for him. "Uncle Qrow!" She almost abandoned her fight to go and help him.

Hayate, however, was having none of that. "I think not!" He appeared in front of Ruby, stabbing at her.

Ruby stepped to the side and used her scythe's blade to block and hold down Hayate's large dagger. She glared at her foe. "Were you after us?" She demanded.

"I think that's obvious." Hayate responded.

"Then how did you find us?" Ruby demanded.

"Oh you poor thing, you have no idea how much danger you're really in." Hayate chuckled. "That relic you're carrying? Well, get this: apparently it attracts the Grimm just as much as negative emotions do. Shocking, right?"

Ruby looked at the relic in shock. No...Ozpin...did he deliberately hide that from her? From all of them? But...he promised he would be more open now. No more half-truths. Hayate grinned at her surprised face. "I know, right? I was surprised to when I first heard of it. But when Deacon Fuma pointed out we could use this to our advantage...well, as they say, the rest is history."

"Anyway, that relic is supposed to be a gift, in honor of my people's new friendship with the Lady Salem. And I don't return to my leaders empty-handed. Apologies, but that relic will be ours before this day is through."

"Take comfort though," Hayate continued, "you won't have any time to stew in your failures, or the hopelessness of your situation. You will be granted the release of death."

Hayate vanished with his Quickstep and reappeared several few feet away from Ruby to plan for his next attack. Ruby, meanwhile, continued trying to speak with him. She needed all the time she could get to make a plan to fight this guy. "If you knew how to find us, then why attack us on the Argus Limited? There was no need to get all these innocent people involved!"

Hayate was admittedly surprised by Ruby's selflessness before grinning. "What a thoughtful young girl you are." He complimented. "Unfortunately for you, we had no way of knowing when the Grimm would find you. And honestly...we plan to kill every single person on this train when we're done with you. So, it really makes no difference."

Ruby's eyes widened. "Another good reason for you not to despair." Hayate taunted. "You'll be joined by plenty of others as you make your way to the afterlife. You won't be lonely."

Ruby shook with anger at that statement. "I don't understand," She muttered before shouting at Hayate, completely forgetting that she was trying to come up with a plan to beat him and his strange power, "what have these people done to you? Why do you want to kill them?"

Hayate sighed. "Honestly? They've done absolutely nothing." He admitted.

"And...you still want to kill them?" Ruby had an incredulous expression on her face.

Hayate nodded. He gave Ruby a smile that was mixed with sheepishness, tiredness, and a distinct lack of care for the situation around them. "Don't get the wrong idea," he said, "it's not like I think any of them _deserve_ to die. I'm sure a good majority of the people on this train are good folks. They're going to die because they _have_ to, and I _want_ to kill them. It's as simple as that."

"Simple?!" Ruby was shouting at Hayate at full-volume now. "How could that be simple? These are people's lives! They're all just trying to live peacefully in this terrifying world, and you're saying they have to die because you _want them to_? How could that be simple?"

Hayate sighed. "Kids like you just love to make everything so complicated, don't you?" He mused. "The universe we live in is not run by overly complicated concepts of good and evil, that change depending on who's in charge."

"No, it is simply run by those who have the strongest wills and desires." Hayate revealed darkly. "And my people...well, we have desires that you would probably overcomplicate into pure evil, when in reality, it all boils down to something very simple."

"We _want_ to kill people because it brings us closer to our goals. And they _have_ to die for the sake of our ambition." Hayate concluded. "It's that simple."

Ruby glared at Hayate. How long had it been since she truly stared at someone with nothing but pure hatred. Probably when she got mad at Roman Torchwick for his insistence on sticking with Cinder, just because he was convinced she was going to win.

Ruby then regained her composure and simply shook her head. "I really don't understand you people." She admitted. "How you all can do such horrible things without a care. You'll use anyone. Kill anyone. All to achieve whatever goal you have."

"It scares me, really." Ruby admitted before staring right at Hayate with a fire in her silver eyes. "But that fear...that's why I have to fight you. That's why I have to stop you!"

At that moment, Hayate, for the first time in this fight, noticed the color of Ruby's eyes. "Your eyes are...oh, I see, that explains that plucky attitude of yours." He noted with a grin. "Well then, now that I know who you are, I think I'll take you a bit more seriously from here on out...Ruby Rose."

Ruby tensed up at the sound of her name. "You know me?"

"I know enough...to know that you need to die!" And with that, Hayate vanished into a slipstream once more with his Quickstep.

Ruby's eyes widened. Hayate was faster now. Then, before she could react, Hayate was in front of her. He delivered a devastating side-kick to the stomach that sent the girl airborne. Hayate refused to let up though. He leapt into the air, spun and roundhouse kicked Ruby, amplifying her pain.

Ruby's Aura flashed dangerously as it worked overtime to bear the brunt of that powerful assault. Hayate grinned cruelly as he vanished into the slipstream once more. Ruby managed to land on her feet. _I need to move fast! It's the only way I can have any hope of keeping up with him!_ She realized, transforming into rose petals to speed about herself.

The rose petal form of Ruby Rose sped around Argus Limited, trying to outpace Hayate so that she could go on the offensive herself. However, Hayate suddenly appeared above her, kicking her "Speed" form and sending the girl careening back down to the roof.

"Ruby!" Weiss called out in worry for her partner.

"Got you!" Hinatsu yelled, grabbing for Weiss to take advantage of her distracted state.

Weiss quickly created a wall of ice with the ice dust in Myrtenaster, only for Hinatsu to melt the ice with what appeared to be reddened hands. "A heat-based Semblance?" Weiss exclaimed in surprise.

"You idiot," Hinatsu grinned, "these aren't Semblances. They're not weak enough to be Semblances!"

Ruby tried to get up from that devastating kick, only to suddenly be pinned to the floor by Hayate. "I think we can bring this game to an end." He said simply, brandishing his dagger above her.

 _Oh God, he was playing with me all this time!_ Ruby realized.

Slowly but surely, the Cultists began to overwhelm the heroes trying to defend Argus Limited. Blake was grabbed by an outstretched arm and driven into the wall. Jaune was being pushed back by Sanga's lightning. Qrow was slowly being broken by the Black Knight while Fuma and Koko watched. Yang was simply on the defensive, trying to avoid Kamakiri's blades. Ozpin's eyes widened when he saw what was happening behind him. "Hold on!" He called out to them, summoning a sudden burst of strength that pushed back the ice-user.

"Don't run from me!" Ozpin's opponent hissed angrily as he pursued the headmaster.

Ozpin ran to help his students, finding himself staring down Sanga and Gendo, who were standing over a kneeling Jaune. "Are you alright, Mr. Arc?" Ozpin asked.

"Been better." Jaune replied.

"And Ms. Valkyrie?"

Jaune looked over his shoulder to see Ren still tending to her. "Hurt bad."

"Go help her, I'll handle them." Ozpin ordered.

Jaune nodded and ran to help Nora. Ozpin then noticed the ice-user catching up. "Lie Ren, keep your teammates safe from that one!"

Ren nodded and stood up, brandishing his weapons at the ice-user. Ozpin then stared down Sanga and Gendo. "Still uselessly struggling against the tides of fate. How tragic." Sanga lamented.

Ozpin narrowed his eyes. Oscar could not help but let out a little gasp inside of Ozpin's mind while reading his tennent's thoughts. _Sir...are you close to giving up?_

" _I won't deny I'm worried we all may die here, Oscar...but I promise you, I'm going to give it all I've got to the very end."_ Ozpin promised him.

 _...We were so close though._ Oscar could not help but despair.

Indeed, they were so close. But now, hope seemed so far away…

Elsewhere, on a small cliff, a bored looking cultist with red and blue hair colored like a magnet, sat at the edge, holding his hand out in front of him. This was the cultist who was keeping the train in place with his magnetism-based Art. He was calmly watching the fights on the Argus Limited and shook his head at how futile the enemy's resistance was.

"I almost feel bad." He admitted. "They have no idea what they are up against."

"The Watcher race may have been at peace for centuries...but deep down, our instinct for battle never dulled. Fighting is just...well, in our blood. And we in particular fight to kill, every single time. There's no way in hell a bunch of kids and some scruffy old geezer could beat that."

"Too bad, guess you all just had some really bad luck."

Meanwhile, in what appeared to be a different location. Sojiro looked around to see that his group was surrounded in what appeared to be a pitch black dimension, just like the Void. At that moment, Shogo woke with a start. "I AM THE HERO OF LEGEND!" He randomly declared before looking around and noticing his new surroundings. "Umm...we're not on Argus Limited anymore."

"Yeah, no duh." Noriko rolled her eyes.

"I can't believe we let our guard down like this!" Shuya panicked.

"I can't either," admitted a sadistic, youthful voice, "for fellow Watchers...you're not very bright."

Sojiro narrowed his eyes. "Cultists," he growled, "how in the world did you manage to get on the train without us noticing?"

"Surprised? Consider that a little trick from yours truly." The cultist taunted. "See, my Art is known as: Hidden. I can conceal anything completely, and place their 'presence' in this little pocket dimension of mine. For example, I concealed my Reiki and passed off as a normal civilian. Even you couldn't have figured me out, so don't feel bad."

"And I take it you've 'hidden' us now?" Sojiro frowned.

"Exactly, as far as people are concerned, I'm the only person in the cabin right now." The cultist explained.

"But that's not the case, correct?" Sojiro continued to question the cultist. "Technically, we are still here."

"Where you actually are is neither here nor there, the important thing is, you're not going anywhere now." The cultist explained. "You can all just sit right here while we slaughter every single passenger on this train, and then take the Relic of Knowledge from those brats who ruined the Lady Salem's plans back at Haven."

Shuya and Noriko both looked at each other in confusion. Who was Salem? What was the Relic of Knowledge? And who were these kids the Cult was after?

Sojiro, however, was far calmer. He simply shook his head at the cultist's declarations. "As a former instructor of soldiers, allow me to play the role for _you_ now." He said.

"What the hell are you talking about?" The cultist demanded.

"First rule in combat, never give away too much of your power, to the point where your enemy can easily figure out its weakness." Sojiro said as he began powering up his own Reiki.

"What are you doing?" The cultist's tone of voice changed from cocky to frightened at the drop of a hat.

"You said we were hidden, yes?" Sojiro noted. "Well, I am simply bringing us out of hiding."

Then, with a tremendously powerful burst of Reiki, the darkness surrounding the four Travelers was shattered, revealing their assailant to them. They were now back inside of their cabin The cultist shook in fear, disbelief, and anger. "What did you do?" He demanded. "How did you do it?"

"You said that we were only 'concealed', not transported to a different dimension or anything else along those lines." Sojiro pointed out. "From there, it was quite easy to figure out the truth. Your power is not some sort of spatial manipulation that stores things. It is an illusion. You place people under illusions by concealing parts of reality, like your Reiki, or our very existence."

"But how the hell did you break out of it?" The cultist frantically demanded.

"I've found over the years that illusions are like boxes, which fits because magicians and illusionists love to use boxes for their tricks." Sojiro smiled. "Fill up a box with too much, and it eventually breaks. I simply simulated this concept with my own Reiki. As you can see, the same concept applies."

The cultist sputtered in disbelief. "No way, no way, no way, NO WAY!" He screamed. "How much freaking Reiki could you have to pull something like that off?"

Sojiro laughed heartily. "You have every right to be surprised. I'm just a sick old man after all."

Then, Sojiro's face turned deadly serious as he dropped into a martial arts stance. "That being said, when I'm confronted by monsters like you cultists...I feel several centuries younger and _much healthier_!" He declared, raising his fist to throw a punch at the cultist.

A few passengers, in spite of their fear, let their curiosity get the better of them as they peered out of their cabins to try and better listen to what sounded like a very serious argument inside of another cabin.

Suddenly, there was a loud crash that sent a large mass flying out of that very cabin and into the one parallel to it, much to the fright of the residents in that cabin. Everyone screamed in fright when they saw a young, unconscious man with his head hanging outside the broken window.

There were no marks on him that indicated a punch. That was because Sojiro never actually punched him. The illusionist had been blasted away by the _force_ of Sojiro's punch. Let that sink in for a moment.

"Please remain calm, all is well." Came Sojiro's voice as the old man stepped out of the cabin to reassure the people. "I know this looks bad, but I can assure you, we mean no harm. That boy I just attacked, not so much. But, he won't be harming anyone for awhile."

"Shogo," Sojiro turned to his fellow fighter. "I can sense more cultists right above us, and they seem to be fighting people I can only assume are on our side. Go and lend them a hand."

"From your lips to the gods' ears, Grandmaster!" Shogo exclaimed happily. "Hero of Legend, Shogo the Lightbringer, ready for action!"

Moments earlier, Fuma was suddenly startled by the car he was on shaking. "What was that?" He demanded when he regained his balance. He then looked below to try and figure out what was happening. His eyes went wide in disbelief when he saw a familiar head sticking out a broken window.

"Gakushu!" He exclaimed.

"What happened, Deacon?" Koko asked.

"Someone took out Gakushu!" Fuma declared.

"What? Who did we miss?" Koko asked.

"Gakushu mentioned in his last transmission that he sensed four Reiki signatures. I told him to take care of the owners when he had the chance! Damn it, Gakushu, you failed!" Fuma growled.

He then turned to Koko. "Is your Phantom Noise ready?" He asked.

Koko nodded. "Good, we need it, _now_!" Fuma ordered.

Koko nodded and took a deep breath, preparing to let out another deafening, operatic noise. Ruby noticed this out of the corner of her eye while pinned down by Hayate and her eyes widened. "No, don't!" She yelled.

Qrow managed to look up at Koko while being slammed into the roof repeatedly by the Black Knight. He gritted his teeth in frustration and despair, cursing himself for his failure to stop the fat lady from singing a second time.

The roof in front of Koko suddenly shattered. A split second before Koko used her Phantom Noise once again, a single individual came rocketing out of the new hole in the roof. "Lightning Shooting Star Mach 2!" Shogo yelled as he delivered a mighty uppercut to Koko's jaw.

"YAH!" Koko yelled in surprise and pain as she was sent hurtling into the air by Shogo's uppercut.

Fuma spun around to watch as Koko's unconscious body unceremoniously bounced off the tracks before tumbling down the snowy hill like a boulder. She eventually came to a stop and just laid there like a slug.

"Koko!" He called out to her.

"Ha ha!" Shogo hammily declared as he gracefully landed on the roof, put his hands on his hips, and puffed his chest out like a superhero. "You have not won yet, villains!"

Fuma glared at Shogo, who continued his 'heroic' rant. "For all those cry out for peace, love and justice, know that your cries have been answered. Because Shogo, Lightbringer! Warrior of Justice! Defender of Peace! Champion of Love! And Hero Without Equal! Has arrived!" Shogo introduced himself.

At that moment, every single fighter froze to gaze at the new arrival in disbelief. The general thought among everyone was as follows: _Who is this idiot?_

"Right," came an elderly voice that was very familiar to both Qrow and Ruby, "the point is…"

Sojiro calmly climbed onto the roof of the car. He gave a kind and reassuring smile to all the Huntsmen present. "...You all fought well, so don't despair. We're here to help you."


	3. Chapter 3: Schism

**Chapter 3: Schism**

The focus of the Argus Limited attackers was diverted the moment these two new enemies made their presence known. Even Hayate, who frankly should have grabbed the Relic of Knowledge from Ruby while he had her pinned down by now, had his focus on Shogo and Sojiro a hundred percent. They definitely were the kind of people you had to devote all your attention to.

Sojiro took a moment to count out the remaining enemies in front of them. "Okay, so we're dealing with nine. Wait, no, there's a tenth one that's hiding out. Oh? And it looks like he's the one who's preventing this train from moving."

The magnetism-user's eyes widened in surprise. "Whoa, those are some sensory skills." He muttered. "Might be a good time to fall back…what are you going to do, Deacon?"

Ruby looked at Sojiro in disbelief. "You're...that nice old man from the train station!" She exclaimed.

Sojiro looked at Ruby and smiled, recognizing her. "Well hello, little one." He said. "My apologies that we could not come to your aid sooner. We ran into some trouble of our own. But I promise, everything's going to be okay now."

Sojiro turned his attention to Shogo. "Shogo," he said, "would you be so kind as to clear the area for me?"

Shogo quickly and grandly saluted the old man. "Aye aye, Grandmaster!" He said with a cheer. "It shall be done with all the speed and power you'd expect from a hero of my stature!"

Shogo then crouched into a sprinter's stance. "You can't be serious." Fuma glared at Sojiro, who quickly stood between Fuma and Shogo. "Are you really going to send that lunatic against my entire squad? Are you looking down on us, Geezer?"

Sojiro simply smiled. "Young man," he said, "by the time he's done, you're going to wonder why I try to keep him on a leash. Why don't you watch and see what he does? You might just learn a thing or two."

"Here it comes!" Shogo warned the rest of Fuma's squad as his body suddenly lit up into a bright red light. "Blazing Holy Meteor of Doom!"

And with that "simple" command, Shogo's body suddenly rocketed forward at speeds even Ruby and Qrow could not hope to track. The Black Knight was suddenly pushed off Qrow from the force of an impact.

"The hell?" Hinatsu exclaimed in disbelief before she suddenly felt a blow to the face that knocked her horizontally.

The snake-man's eyes widened before letting go of Blake due to a powerful blow to the face. His body began falling backwards. Kamakiri instinctively sprouted blades around his body to defend himself from whatever it was Shogo was doing. Thankfully, Shogo passed him.

"Damn!" Hayate cursed, leaping into the air and letting go of Ruby.

Ruby looked up to see a red streak move past her. Lightning began to crackle around Sanga's arms to try and attack Shogo while he was speeding about, only to be dealt a devastating blow to the stomach that made him slump forward.

Gendo formed a gate in front of him to absorb the force of Shogo's impact. The red streak moved above and past Gendo, who subsequently felt a sharp strike to the back of his neck, making him slump forward as well.

At that moment, the ice-user that was fighting Ren, gritted his teeth in frustration and fear. "Damn it, who is this guy?" He hissed in rage. "Freezing Transmutation: Death Wall!"

The ice-user quickly created a wall of ice with spikes in front of it to try and discourage a direct attack. However, much to his surprise, Shogo appeared right in front of the ice-user and elbowed right through the spiky wall of ice. Shogo ignored the spikes going into his body and smashed the wall, striking down the ice-user in the process.

Everyone from Remnant watched in disbelief as this new arrival decimated the foes that had been giving them so much trouble in under ten seconds.

Fuma gazed at the sight before him in disbelief. Hayate and Kamakiri formed up next to the Black Knight. "Five Acolytes beaten in such a short period of time? What are you people?" Fuma demanded.

"Isn't that obvious?" Sojiro smirked. "We're Watchers, just like you. But also nothing like you. We don't advocate for genocide in the name of a mad devil."

"How dare you!" Fuma hissed angrily. "He is a god! No devil!"

Sojiro shrugged. "It makes no difference to me." He admitted. "Anyone who's central goal is to destroy the entire universe...well, such a genocidal despot is no god of mine."

Before Sojiro could further espouse his hatred for whatever god this cult had, Shogo suddenly began shouting in triumph. "Do you see?" He demanded. "Then beware, the dreaded power of Shogo the Lightbringer! A hero who is truly without equal! Steward of all that is good!"

Yang finally managed to regain her composure and rejoin her teammates. "I don't know whether I should be grateful that he saved us...or embarrassed that _he_ saved us." She admitted

"I...don't think looking a gift horse in the mouth is a good idea, Yang." Blake admitted, rubbing her throat.

"I'm sorry, can we not ignore the fact that he was _faster_ than Ruby?" Weiss demanded in disbelief.

Ozpin was looking at Shogo in disbelief too. He had managed to follow Shogo's movements. But it had not been easy in Oscar's body. _Umm...Ozpin?_ Oscar spoke up.

"Yes, Oscar?" Ozpin inquired.

 _I'm beginning to think that you were right._ Oscar admitted. _There is something very different about this guy._

"Well, in the words of kids today, no duh." Ozpin sighed. "At least we can take comfort in the fact that he's on our side for now."

Sojiro sighed at Shogo's antics. "Anyway," he said, "the point is, your god, devil, or whatever he is, came this close to destroying everything before...I have no intention of letting that happen again."

Fuma frowned, slowly realizing who he was dealing with. "I see, a veteran Watcher, huh?"

"Yeah, that explains a lot." Fuma noted. "You must be _real_ old to know of our last crusade. Who are you exactly?"

Sojiro smirked. "I am Sojiro, Grandmaster of the Kingdom of Menou. The man who gathered the mighty Seven Saint Warriors to defend His Majesty, King Chitsujo. I have trained millions of students over the years. You could say that I'm the master of every single soldier in Menou's army."

"Menou?" Ruby was confused. That was a kingdom she never heard of.

"Think nothing of it, little one." Sojiro told her.

Fuma narrowed his eyes. "The hell's this?" He wondered. "The Grandmaster of all people, here? Why is he a Traveler? No matter, it won't stop us from taking that relic!"

Sojiro popped his neck. "I don't know why you all want that lamp so badly, but if these children were willing to risk their lives to protect it, then I shall defend it in their place."

"Hold on, you plan to take them all on at once?" Ruby was surprised and worried.

"That would be the general idea, yes." Sojiro nodded.

"But you can't!" Ruby yelled. "I mean, no offense, but if you're so old, your body couldn't…"

Sojiro looked over his shoulder and smiled at Ruby, making the girl trail off. "What's your name, little one?" He asked kindly.

"Umm...Ruby, Ruby Rose, sir." Ruby introduced herself properly.

"Ruby, it's going to be okay." Sojiro assured her. "I've got this."

Fuma growled at how complicated his mission had become. He then turned his attention to his three remaining subordinates. "Hayate, Black Knight, Kamakiri, kill him." He ordered. "I'll deal with the children."

Sojiro smirked. "Only three opponents?" He taunted. "Are you sure you're not underestimating me just because I'm an old man? That's not very nice, boy."

"Don't screw with me, old man." Fuma growled. "There is three of my men, and only one of you. You may be Menou's Grandmaster, but you're still just a washed up old man that's already one foot in the grave. So do us a big favor and _drop dead_!"

"All of that is quite true." Sojiro shrugged. "I'm old. I'm quite washed up. And I do pretty much have one foot in the grave. And do you know what I have to say about that?"

The old man's face darkened as he stared down all four Cultists. "You should've brought more men!" He declared. "Prepare yourself! Reinforcement!"

At that moment, Sojiro was enveloped in an emerald-green aura. The snow around him was blown away by the blast. The Remnant Team's eyes widened in shock as Sojiro's power doubled in an instant. "His Reiki just doubled!" Hayate exclaimed. "That's what his Art is?"

"So that's the power of Menou's Grandmaster," Fuma growled, "Reinforcement...simple, but effective. The power to increase all your physical attributes at will."

"This is insane," Hayate muttered, "it's like he's a completely different person. His Reiki is now higher than any of ours. Deacon…"

"We have a mission to complete." Fuma reminded his subordinates. "And we're going to complete it, no matter what we have to do."

"You claim that and yet you're the only one who's not stepping up to the plate to fight, Boy." Sojiro glared at Fuma. "Unless there is a good reason, the leader should always be at the front of the fight. Otherwise, how can his troops be expected to follow?"

Fuma growled at Sojiro. He barely knew this old geezer, and boy did he already hate his guts. "Well, why don't I throw you a bone?" Sojiro suggested. "I'll force you to fight me."

At that moment, Sojiro vanished from his spot, leaving behind a massive impression on the roof of the train car he had been standing on. Kamakiri shrieked in fear as he tried to defend himself. "Urchin Armor!" He yelled, sprouting multiple blades from his body.

Sojiro appeared in front of him. Wordlessly, the old man formed his hand into a blade and stabbed forward, striking Kamakiri in the temple, right in a particular spot where there were no blades to stab Sojiro. Kamakiri let out a pained grunt before he fell backwards, his blades retracted back into his body.

"As threatening as your Art is," Sojiro told Kamakiri, "all it takes to beat it, is skilled precision and aim."

"The HELL?!" Hayate screamed in surprise. He had never seen anyone do that to Kamakiri before.

The Black Knight roared in rage, charging Sojiro. Sojiro calmly stepped to the side and slammed his fist into the Black Knight's back, sending the being stumbling forward. Hayate tried to use Sojiro's distracted state to get the jump on him. He was going to stab that old man right in the heart.

Hayate was suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. His eyes widened in pure fear. Sojiro had caught his dagger without even looking. "I've been in this game for a long time, Son." Sojiro told Hayate, turning his attention to him. "And I'm well aware that when going for a sneak attack, assassins like yourself will aim for the largest center of mass, because they only have one chance."

"I'm afraid you've missed yours." Sojiro told him before bringing his free fist back.

Hayate tried to flee with Quickstep, but Sojiro's fist was faster. The speedster was knocked out of his run by a powerful blow to the face and sent flying into the side of the mountain. Dust and snow was briefly kicked up by the impact. When it cleared, Hayate was revealed to be stuck in the mountain, arms splayed. Beaten brutally by one single punch and unconscious.

Ruby gazed at Sojiro's actions in disbelief and wonder. She could see how fast Hayate was moving. The fact that Sojiro's punch was even faster-fast enough to catch up with him, for that matter-was truly amazing.

Fuma could not believe what he was seeing. "What the hell is this?" He demanded. "I thought he was some old man! But the grandmaster hasn't lost a step!"

Sojiro laughed at that. "Oh please," he said, "I have gotten much weaker. Back in my prime, I could've sent you _all_ flying with the shockwave of a punch."

Okay, that had to have been a lie. Ruby simply could not believe something like that was true. These cultists-whoever they are-outmatched them in every way. And here comes Sojiro, claiming that if he had been even younger, he would not even need to actually hit them. Just blast them with the force of one of his punches. Just what the hell kind of monster was this guy in his prime?

"But just because I'm much weaker," Sojiro continued, "doesn't mean any of you are stronger than me."

Fuma let out a frustrated growl. "BLACK KNIGHT!" He yelled, much to Sojiro's confusion.

Sojiro looked over his shoulder to see that the Black Knight had recovered from his last attack and was back on the offensive. The Black Knight roared with rage at the sight of its comrades being beaten, and fully intended to take every ounce of his anger out on Sojiro. Sojiro spun around and caught the fists of the beast.

"My, my, you are persistent." Sojiro noted.

"Persistent, and deadly." Fuma corrected. "The Black Knight's Art gives him an enhanced healing factor. Not only that, but the more you hit him, the less your attacks work. Think of his body as something that constantly develops antibodies for physical strength."

"How is that even fair?" Yang exclaimed, overhearing that statement. "It's like an enhanced version of my Semblance!"

Meanwhile, Jaune, having finished his treatment of Nora, ran over to Qrow, and was now working on healing him. "I can't believe you had to fight something like that." Jaune muttered to the downed Qrow.

"Mr. Sojiro!" Ruby yelled in concern.

"It's alright, Ruby." Sojiro assured Ruby. "While I do admit that fighting someone who's entire power revolves around adapting to someone's physical attributes is a bit irritating, it's nothing I can't handle."

"I'm curious though," Sojiro addressed Fuma as he continued to grapple with the Black Knight, "why is he not in charge? It seems he's far stronger than you. And, since you are Watchers like me, typically, the strong are placed in charge. It's simply in our DNA. So why?"

"Isn't it obvious, it's because the Black Knight has no sense, whatsoever." Fuma narrowed his eyes at that slight against his pride.

Sojiro gazed at the Black Knight once more, taking note of the red eyes beneath the armored visor. "So it would seem." He mused. "How did you come across a warrior like this. After what happened to you cultists in my people's last conflict with you, I had been under the impression you had lost your strongest fighters."

"Wouldn't you like to know." Fuma growled.

"Oh I would, please tell me." Sojiro taunted Fuma.

"Cheeky geezer, crush him already, Black Knight!" Fuma ordered the hulking suit of armor. "Crush him, and make sure it's painful!"

The Black Knight let out an inhuman roar and tried to push Sojiro back in this grappling contest of theirs. "Oh? My word, you actually are rather strong. Nowhere near the level of my grandson, but strong nonetheless."

"Yes, it appears your last defeat has weakened you exponentially." Sojiro mused of his old foes. "Well, I shouldn't speak so soon. I haven't even met your leaders yet."

"But still, this is troublesome, a single Reinforcement was not enough to beat a behemoth in a suit of armor. Damn, have I gotten old." Sojiro sighed. "Well, I guess that just means I will have to surpass that, right here and now."

Fuma's eyes widened as Sojiro's Reiki rocketed upwards once more. "Reinforcement Times 3!" Sojiro yelled as his physical strength increased once again.

Fuma gasped as he was almost floored by the force of Sojiro's energy. And just like that, his energy was now at the level of a Bishop. This situation had now officially gotten out of hand. "Push past your limits, again and again, that is the way of the Menou Royal Army!" Sojiro declared, pushing the Black Knight off balance.

The old man brought his fist back. Said fist began to shine with a bright green light. "Starlight Breaker!" The green fist rocketed forward, striking the Black Knight in the abdomen.

The Black Knight let out a roar before it was sent flying far, far away by the force of Sojiro's Starlight Breaker. Fuma's mouth dropped open in disbelief. "If he can heal and adapt to any blow," Sojiro noted, "then I shall strike him with an attack at such force that there won't be enough left of him to put himself back together. Good luck healing from that, Sir Knight."

Fuma gaped in utter disbelief. "He sent the Black Knight flying with a single punch? Impossible!"

The magnet-user was briefly stunned by the Black Knight's defeat before noting that Fuma's Reiki was beginning to rise. "Oh dear," he muttered, "it looks like Fuma's rage and frustration is causing his Reiki to go out of whack, this might not end well for anyone."

Proving the magnet-user correctly, Fuma let out a scream of rage as his Reiki increased in response. "What the hell?" Yang yelled as she was forced to her knees.

"So...strong…" Blake muttered, in the same boat as Yang.

Weiss was breathing heavily, the combination of Fuma's Reiki, his wind-based powers going out of control, and Sojiro's own Reiki made it feel like the poor girl was being choked.

"My promotion...my recognition!" Fuma yelled angrily. "How dare you all try and take it from me!"

Sojiro frowned, shielding himself from the wind. _He's insane._ He thought to himself before noticing blood running down his mouth. _Damn, it's been awhile since I've gone beyond a normal Reinforcement. I really have gotten weaker._

"I'll destroy you all!" Fuma vowed. "You are all going to pay for this! All of you!"

Sojiro growled. "Damn, he's gone completely off the deep end. Par for the course for these people at this point."

The magnet-user sighed before smirking. "Oh dear, misjudged our Deacon, huh? That man is as determined as a tornado. This could actually work out for little old me. I can take all the credit when he gets himself killed, allowing his Reiki to run wild like that. He's gonna tear his own body apart, and get everyone else killed in the process...and I'll reap all the benefits."

Ruby looked around and saw the wind beginning to rock the train, in spite of the magnetic power holding it in place. "Wait!" She yelled. "The people in the train!"

Fuma ignored Ruby and continued to gather an insane amount of wind. Inside of the train, Noriko and Shuya frantically worked to keep the passengers calm and under control, reassuring them that everything was going to be okay. _What is happening out there, Grandmaster?_ Noriko worriedly wondered.

Meanwhile, unknown to everyone, a short, dark-skinned, old lady with mechanical goggles for eyes exited out of her car. These people interested her, and she wanted to find out just what they were up to.

Sojiro thought over his next move. _I could push my Reinforcement up to Times 4 and break through easily, but I don't know if my body can handle it yet. I've been out of action for far too long! I can't believe I made such a rookie mistake! And what's more, I don't know if these children can handle the stress of being in my presence at such a level. They're strong for their age, but they have a long way to go!_

"Aren't you listening?" Ruby demanded. "You need to stop! I don't care how badly you people want the relic, there's no need to involve anyone else!"

Everyone gazed at Ruby, frozen in place, wondering how she was able to think of others in this situation. Meanwhile, even Shogo found himself immobilized. The powerful winds kicked up by Fuma's Reiki, combined with Sojiro's own immense Reiki, was too much even for him.

"Curses, the Goddess of Misfortune has cursed me!" Shogo declared.

"Die, die, die, DIE!" Fuma yelled, now concentrating and aiming his wind at the ground. "Sweeping Tornado!"

For a brief moment, Fuma had left a small opening as he prepared for his final attack. The stress of using so much power at once was indeed actually beginning to tear his body apart, as evidenced by the deep lacerations that were appearing on his body. He winced in pain, and that was when the opening made itself known. Sojiro had expected to be the one to take advantage of such an opening. It was his only chance to stop Fuma.

However…

Rose petals sped past Sojiro. The old man's eyes widened as Ruby Rose appeared in front of Fuma without warning. At that moment, every single fighter still present and conscious gasped at Ruby's actions as the same thought came to their mind: _How did she do that?_

Ozpin, who had been frozen in place due to being inside of Oscar's weaker body (had he been in his old body, he could have moved in spite of all the chaos), could not believe what his former student had just managed. _It shouldn't have been possible with all of his power creating this strange pressure!_

Fuma gazed at Ruby in fear. He was wide open now. _I couldn't sense her...I didn't see her coming...because all of this Reiki in the air masked her presence from me!_

"I told you!" Ruby yelled angrily, bringing back Crescent Rose. "Leave these people ALONE!"

Ruby swung Crescent Rose, slicing Fuma deeply across his abdomen. "URGH!" Fuma yelled in pain as his eyes almost bulged out from their sockets.

Fuma spun a full three hundred and sixty degrees from the impact. The winds died down almost instantly. Sojiro took this opportunity to leap into the air above the Deacon. "Starlight Breaker!" He yelled, punching Fuma square in the jaw and sending the man rocketing into the ground behind the Argus Limited.

Ruby shrieked in surprise and fear as the force of the impact sent her flying. "Ruby!" Yang and Weiss managed to catch her.

Sojiro landed back on the Argus Limited and looked back at Ruby, who was panting from her efforts. He could not help but smile at her actions. _To be able to move in spite of all this Reiki and pressure in the air._ He mused. _Her strength of will is extraordinary for her age._

At that moment, Sojiro found himself seeing his daughter, Kyoko, in her place. Not only her, but his king, Chitsujo as well. _An indomitable will of resolve...the similarities are undeniable._ He noted.

Sojiro wiped the blood from his mouth so as not to worry Ruby and walked over to her. "Well done, Ruby." He complimented. "I must admit, you really surprised me today."

Ruby smiled and weakly gave Sojiro a thumbs-up. "What can I say, I'm full of surprises." She joked.

"The train's still not moving though." Yang pointed out.

"Which means whoever's doing that is still out there somewhere." Weiss pointed out. "We need to find them and get the Argus Limited moving again."

"No," Ruby managed, breathing heavily.

"What do you mean no?" Yang asked.

"I mean, the train needs to get moving again...but guys, we can't be on the train." Ruby revealed, looking over at Ozpin with a hint of betrayal.

Ozpin tensed up at Ruby's gaze. _What's wrong?_ Oscar asked, but he received no answer.

"Why?" Blake joined the conversation.

"The Grimm...they're attracted to the relic. That guy with the speed powers told me. We'd just be putting everyone else in danger." Ruby revealed.

The rest of Team RWBY gasped in disbelief. "Ruby, you believe the enemy?" Blake asked in confusion.

"If I may," Sojiro spoke up, "while it is true I don't understand any of this, whether that man was telling the truth or not. This isn't something you should risk."

Team RWBY gazed at Sojiro. "He's got a point there." Weiss noted.

"Y-yeah," Ruby was still trying to catch her breath.

"Hey, old man," Yang frowned slightly, "I don't know who you are, and I'm definitely grateful for your help, but I'm really not big on someone who doesn't know a damn thing about what's going on, coming in and telling us how to do things."

"Yang, come on, don't be like that." Blake said to Yang. "It's because of him and his teammate that we're all still alive."

"I know that, but trust is kind of at a low right now." Yang pointed out. "So I'd very much like for him to give me a reason to trust his opinion."

"I can't give you a reason, I'm afraid." Sojiro admitted. "But, you girls seem smart. Do you honestly think it wise to put people who can't fight at an unnecessary risk?"

Yang fell silent at that. "Yang," Ruby said, "he's right. Go get Bumblebee out of storage. We need to let this train continue onwards, without us."

Sojiro nodded. "Shogo!" He called out. "Go and find the brakes at the front of this train. We can't let this train move until we're all ready to disembark!"

"Yes sir!" Shogo saluted and sped off.

"I'm going to go help him." Blake said.

"Do you not trust us?" Sojiro inquired.

"It's not that...it's more along the lines of...I have a lot of questions." Blake admitted. "For one thing...you people don't seem like you're from around here."

"That I can confirm." Sojiro nodded.

"Then consider this my period of observation." Blake said to Sojiro. "I'm going to find out everything I need to know from observing you people."

With that, Blake vanished into the shadows, following Shogo. Sojiro sighed. "Not that I don't understand how you feel...but you seem to have a very unhealthy amount of suspicion for others."

"Old man, you have no idea." Yang rolled her eyes.

"For what it's worth, Mr. Sojiro, I trust you." Ruby admitted.

Sojiro gave them a grandfatherly smile. "I'll tell you what," he said, "how about after we leave this train and things settle, I sit you all down and tell you a little story?"

"Umm...maybe later," Ruby looked at Yang, who was now glaring at Ozpin, "something tells me we have a lot to discuss as a group."

Sojiro noticed Yang's glare and frowned. "So it would seem." He muttered.

Sojiro then turned his attention to the mountain, curious as to the magnet user's location. "Now, to take care of the last one." He said, vanishing with Vanishing Walk.

Meanwhile, Shogo arrived at the conductor's car. He grimaced at the sight of the conductor's corpse. "My apologies, I couldn't save you in time." He lamented before gazing at the board.

His eyes widened. "Oh no, I don't know what the brakes look like here!"

"You are clearly not from around here."

Shogo turned to see Blake appearing. "Oh, greetings Cat Ninja of the Night!"

"Wh-what?" Blake was visibly confused at Shogo's greeting. She then saw the conductor's body and sighed. She tenderly unbuckled his seatbelt and laid his body down, closing his eyes respectfully.

"What ails you at the moment, that you would shadow me?"

"Could you...please talk normally?" Blake deadpanned.

"Er...right, sorry." Shogo rubbed the back of his head. "Is there a problem? If you wanted to accompany me, all you had to do was say so."

Blake walked past Shogo and flipped the parking brake. "There, that should keep this train from moving." She noted before addressing Shogo's concerns. "Look, there's no problem. Believe me, I'd love to just say you're an ally after all you and that old man did for us. However, in my line of work, you can't just freely give people your trust."

"Ah, I see, you're worried I shall transform into your arch nemesis rather than a valued comrade in arms!" Shogo noted.

"...You know what, I'm not going to get mad that you talked like a walking thesaurus again, because I at least understood that." Blake sighed. "You're right. You two showed up out of nowhere, displayed a level of skill I have only seen from a few others, and most importantly, everything you say and do suggests you're not even from Remnant. Which I find unbelievable."

"Oh suspicious Cat Ninja of the Night," Shogo grinned, "if the grandmaster but wishes it, you will learn all there is to know. And then, things will begin to seem less and less unbelievable!"

"I hope so, because for whatever it's worth, I do want to be able to trust you." Blake admitted. "You saved my friends...I would love to be able to trust you."

Shogo nodded and leapt back onto the roof of the train. "Grandmaster!" He yelled. "The brakes are...okay he's not here."

"What about the brakes?" Oscar inquired, having regained control of his body.

"Ah, young one!" Shogo smiled. "I'm afraid our journey together continues on foot!"

"On foot, why?" Oscar asked.

"Yeah, we need to get to Argus as fast as possible." Jaune Arc pointed out. Qrow was right behind him, being supported by Nora and Ren while the feeling returned to his body.

"Guys...it's for the best." Ruby joined in on the conversation. She turned to Oscar. "Professor Ozpin...I know you can hear me. We need to talk once this is all over."

Shogo took note of the tense atmosphere and decided to make an exit. "I better inform my two fellow comrades of light that we are to now journey on foot!" He declared before reentering the Argus Limited to find Noriko and Shuya.

Meanwhile, the magnet-user was frantically trying to flee, having cancelled his magnetism. "No freaking way," he muttered, "this was supposed to be an easy snatch and grab mission. How could things all go to hell like this?"

Then, all of a sudden, Sojiro appeared in front of the magnet-user. "Apologies," he said, "but I'm afraid I can't have you running to your leaders."

The magnet-user could only scream in fear and disbelief…

Elsewhere, a trio of black-robed individuals with what appeared to be white piping on their collars, sleeves and pockets. They looked almost like the robes of actual members of the clergy, however the sheer evil these three radiated gave away that they were no clergymen at all. No, they were something much worse.

They all gazed at the broken form of the Black Knight with a look of wonder on their face, trying to understand just what had happened to such a weapon. And more importantly, they were trying to figure out where he had come from…

Later, Sojiro lowered his head in a brief prayer as he stood over the corpses of the squad of cultists. He had Shogo gather them for him to finish them off. Then, he had taken them a bit further into the forest to do the deed. He did not want the children see what he was about to do.

He knew interrogating them was a waste of time. He had interrogated plenty of men like these cultists before, during the last time they had appeared in the universe. Let's just say, they had a bad habit of committing suicide to avoid giving away any information about their people.

So, rather than make them suffer through their efforts at suicide, Sojiro chose to kill them in their sleep instead. It was a mercy they did not deserve, but it was one he would give them regardless. And so, with the deed done, he made his way back to the group.

When he arrived, he was treated to the sight of Yang letting her frustrations be known at what was happening as she pushed the "motorcycle" she called Bumblebee through the snow. The Argus Limited was also nowhere in sight. It appears whoever took over as conductor let up on the brakes.

"Great! This is just great! We're stranded, because apparently _we have to be!_ We're being hunted! And we've gained a defenseless old lady!"

 _Wait, what? Old lady?_ Sojiro raised an eyebrow in confusion.

Then, Sojiro noticed the short old lady with the goggles for the first time. _She wasn't with them before._ He noted. _Hold on, did she follow us?_

"My name is Maria Calavera!" The woman declared. "And I am not defenseless! I'm just a little hard of hearing. And blind without my eyes, that are in desperate need of repair."

Maria tapped on her prosthetic eyes, which open wide and close, before opening narrowly again. She sighed. "Okay, I'm starting to see your point." She muttered.

Maria then noticed Sojiro's presence and smiled. "And you must be the nice old man who helped these children, it's nice to meet you."

Sojiro gazed at Maria in comical disbelief. "I'm sorry...who are you again, and why did you follow us?" He asked.

"We've honestly been trying to find that out as well, sir." Shuya admitted. "But, by the time we realized she was with us...the train had already left. So, we're stuck with her."

Qrow then spoke up, having fully recovered from his beating at the hands of the Black Knight. "Yang, knock it off, will ya? If we lose our cool now, we'll just be inviting even more Grimm." He grunted.

"He has a point, Yang." Sojiro said to Yang. "You must keep your emotions under control."

"Hey, old man, don't act so familiar with me!" Yang glared at Sojiro.

"Yang, come on, Mr. Sojiro helped us out. The least you can do is try to be nice to him." Ruby spoke up in defense of Sojiro. "And he and Uncle Qrow are right, you'll just attract more Grimm."

Blake scoffed. "Does that even matter? Apparently, we've been attracting Grimm ever since we left Haven." She pointed out.

Yang narrowed her eyes. "Oh and _how_ could I forget that?" She said sarcastically. "What happened to no more lies and half truths?"

Sojiro gazed at his subordinates. "Am I missing something here?" He asked.

"A lot, apparently." Noriko sighed. "We're just as confused as you are."

Oscar then spoke up, drawing Sojiro's attention. "Yeah, I think it's time we got an explanation."

Sojiro watched in wonder as Oscar's eyes changed, his body now controlled by Ozpin. "I did not lie to you." Ozpin furrowed his brow at Yang's accusation.

"Amazing!" Sojiro's eyes widened, making his way to Oscar's body before anyone could respond. He gazed into Oscar's changed eyes. "A soul inhabiting another body in some sort of symbiotic relationship. This world is quite fascinating."

"If I may, Mr. Sojiro, it appears that my students…" Ozpin trailed off.

"You may not have lied to us, but you certainly didn't tell us everything about the relic." Weiss interrupted.

"Please, Ms. Schnee, now is not the time." Ozpin walked past Sojiro.

"No, we're past that! I wanna know why you're still not telling us everything!" Yang demanded.

Sojiro narrowed his eyes slightly at Yang's behavior. He then heard Ozpin respond. The former headmaster sighed. "It is true that the Grimm are attracted to the Relics. It's faint, but undeniable. I believe it has to do with their origin, but I'm not entirely sure. Regardless, I feared that making you all aware would only add anxiety and negativity. It seemed like the safer option."

That sounded reasonable to Sojiro. He made the call, and it turned out to be incorrect. Nothing to get upset about. Unfortunately, the others did not seem to feel that way. "You know, I'm getting real tired of people choosing what's best for me." Weiss narrowed her eyes.

"Is that why you chose to lie to everyone about Lionheart too?" Yang accused.

"We are clearly out of the loop here." Shuya whispered to Noriko.

"Yeah, no duh." Noriko responded.

Ozpin nodded at Yang' accusation. "Yes, as a matter of fact, I believed the Kingdom of Mistral deserved better than the truth. And I believed Leonardo deserved to be remembered for his lifetime of service, and not for the unfortunate missteps he made in his final years."

"Missteps?" Yang could not believe what she was hearing. "He betrayed you! Betrayed us!"

"Oh wow, we ended up with quite the messed-up group." Shuya muttered in surprise. "Some people just don't have good luck I guess."

"Hush!" Noriko growled. "Have some tact, Shuya."

"What Professor Lionheart did was reprehensible. I am not here to argue differently, but does one lapse in judgment truly negate all of his good? Do we not all have regrets? You may have met Professor Lionheart, but you never met the man he was before Salem found him." Ozpin explained.

That still was not good enough for Yang. "Look, we're supposed to be in this together. You can trust us! We're not gonna turn our backs on you."

At that moment, Ozpin raised his voice. "Do you really think Leo was the first?!" He demanded, his voice clearly betraying the amount of pain he was in over being betrayed once more.

Everyone froze in place. Sojiro's face contorted into a look of pity for the man. "That he didn't say those exact same words to me?" Ozpin continued. "I'm sorry, but you have to understand that my behaviors are backed by experience. I'm not saying that I have reason to think you will betray me. I'm saying that I have reasons for the things that I do, the secrets I keep, the reason I…"

Ozpin trailed off, clearly unable to continue due to the pain he felt. Jaune, however, clearly had no sympathy for Ozpin. "So what, you didn't even trust Pyrrha when you tried to turn her into a Maiden? You were just going to drag her into that life when you didn't even trust her with all that power! How could you manipulate her like that? Answer me, Ozpin!" He screamed angrily.

Nora and Ren remained silent, but were both gazing at Ozpin with looks of betrayal. Sojiro stepped in at that moment, clapping his hands together. "Alright, alright, let's all just calm down for a moment." He said. "This is getting way too tense. No one is helping their case here with all of this anger and rage.."

"Professor Ozpin, was it?" Sojiro placed a comforting hand on Ozpin's shoulder. "Take a deep breath. You're going to attract Grimm now at the rate you're going. That goes for all of you, by the way."

"And as for you children." Sojiro looked over his shoulder. "While I understand your frustration, you all need to try and understand his feelings on the matter. Furthermore, hurling baseless accusations like that are getting you nowhere. For example, Jaune was it? Accusing someone of something as dark as 'manipulations' does nothing for group dynamics."

"Understand? You know nothing!" Yang yelled. "What we've been through!"

"I may not know exactly what it is you all are going through, yes," Sojiro nodded in agreement, "but my age holds experience as well. Plenty of those experiences help me at least understand the feelings you are all experiencing."

"The relic." Sojiro turned his attention to the source of the voice. It was Ozpin. "Ms. Rose...how is the relic?"

"Umm...it's fine," Ruby said, "I mean, they didn't take it."

"...Please, hand it over." Ozpin gently but sternly ordered.

Ruby hesitated. "So all those times you talked about having faith in humanity, that was just for everyone else?" She accused.

Ozpin sighed. "That's not what I meant to suggest. Miss Rose, the Relic is a powerful item and I simply feel as though it is my burden to bear." He claimed.

"But you said it couldn't do anything right now." Ruby pointed out.

"Why does it matter who carries it?" Blake added.

"What even is that thing?" Noriko asked, pointing at the relic. "And why were those cultists after it?"

"I need you to listen to me-" Ozpin reached out to Ruby, only to suddenly stop in place.

"Oz?" Qrow asked in concern.

Oscar's voice then came out. He was clearly fighting for control of his own body. "Hurry...he's...trying to stop you!"

"Stop her from what?" Yang demanded.

"He's afraid...you'll find out what he's...hiding." Oscar struggled.

Jaune, Weiss, Blake and Yang glared at Oscar while Ruby held the relic defensively. Oscar fell to his knees. "Her name is Jinn, say her name to summon her."

"Her name?" Sojiro was now very confused.

"Jinn?" Ruby repeated the name.

The relic began to glow. Then, all of a sudden, the wind stopped. The snow froze in place, floating in midair. Qrow's eyes widened, unable to comprehend what was happening around him. "What?"

"Amazing…" Shogo muttered in disbelief.

Ruby then let go of the relic. As it floats a short distance away, cyan smoke emanates from it. Suddenly, the lamp is enveloped in the smoke, and from it, a giant, semi-nude feminine figure emerges. He skin and hair colored blue, and decorated with gold jewelry and ornaments. The figure stretches and moans as she has been awakened once again.

"Wonderful," said Jinn, the being that inhabited the Relic of Knowledge.

Everyone stared at Jinn in awe. Even Sojiro, who had been alive for thousands of years, could not believe what he was looking at. "Tell me, what knowledge do you seek?" Jinn inquired.

Maria adjusted her goggles to better look at Jinn. Sojiro gazed at Jinn in awe. "Who are you?" He asked.

"I won't count that as a question. I am Jinn, a being created by the God of Light to aid humanity in its pursuit of knowledge." Jinn introduced herself before gazing at Sojiro in curiosity. "My question is, who are you? I look at you, and those three dressed similarly to you, and I see that you are no human. Nor are any of you faunus. There is something almost...divine about you. It's weak...but it's still there."

"Anyway," Jinn continued, "I've been graced with the ability to answer three questions every one hundred years. You're in luck, as I am still able to answer-"

"That's enough!" Ozpin yelled, having regained control of Oscar's body.

Jinn smirked at finished her statement. "...two questions this era."

Everyone looked at Ozpin in disbelief. "You said the relic wouldn't work." Jaune growled. "That you had already used up the questions."

"Professor Ozpin...why?" Ren questioned.

Jinn chuckled, seemingly recognizing Ozpin. "It's a pleasure to see you again, old man."

Ozpin looked at Ruby, visibly pleading with her. "Ruby...please, don't."

Qrow glanced at Ozpin and stepped forward. "Hey…" he began, addressing Ruby.

Qrow was suddenly cut off by five different weapons pointed at him, courtesy of Weiss, Blake, Yang, Nora and Ren. Sojiro and Shogo both tensed at the sight. Qrow took one look at them all and relented. "Do what you think is right, kiddo." He said to Ruby.

"That's enough," Sojiro ordered the students with their weapons pointed at Qrow, "stand down, we can solve this issue without turning on each other."

However, before Ruby could come to her decision on her own, it seemed Jaune had other plans. Ironically, it was the same plan Ruby would come to. "Jinn, what is Ozpin hiding from us?" Jaune angrily demanded.

"NOOOOOO!" Ozpin screamed in a mixture of anger, pain and betrayal.

Ruby and Jaune gasped and looked behind them. Ozpin charged forward. Sojiro instinctively stepped between the three. However, before anyone could make contact, the world went white around them.

"What...what is this?" Sojiro looked around, trying to get his bearings. "Shogo, Shuya, Noriko, Ruby?!"

Suddenly, an environment manifested, showing a path leading to a castle in the distance. A woman humming can be heard in the background. "Who is that?" Sojiro wondered.

Unbeknownst to Sojiro, everyone was experiencing what he was experiencing in their own blank, white world with that single castle in the distance. Then, simultaneously, everyone heard Jinn's voice. "Once upon a time, there stood a lonely tower…" She began.

Smoke enveloped Sojiro, transporting him to what appeared to be the room of a tower. He looked to see a beautiful woman sitting in front of a mirror, humming. "...that sheltered a lonely girl." Jinn continued. "Named...Salem."

"Salem?" Sojiro repeated, wondering why his heart was beating with anxiety at the mere mention of that name.

And so, Sojiro and his fellow Travelers, along with the people they had come across were taken through a fable, lost to time. He learned the truth, painfully. That the woman named Salem had been rescued by a great warrior named Ozma.

The two quickly fell in love and planned many adventures together, only for tragedy to strike. Ozma was felled by an incurable disease, leaving Salem in grief and alone. He saw that look of grief before, it was the same look Kaishi had when Tomoe had lost her life. It was the look Marishi had when Kyoko had been murdered.

He watched as Salem attempted to bargain with the God of Light, who refused to bring back Ozma. His eyes narrowed when he saw the look of determination on her face. That look was the moment many had been led astray by dark powers.

"Don't do it." He tried to reason with Salem, even though he knew she could not hear him. He was looking at a memory from long ago, after all. "You damn fool, I sympathize with you, but you are treading a dark path! Listen to Him! Let Ozma rest in peace!"

Sojiro could only watch in horror as Salem then tried to bargain with the God of Darkness. He watched as she tried to make it seem like He was the one she had come to first. Ozma had been brought back briefly, only for the God of Light to appear and take his life again. When the brothers both realized Salem had deceived the God of Darkness, the God of Light transported Salem to those strange pools from his domain.

Sojiro watched in disbelief as Salem's forced bath in the pools cursed her with immortality. He learned that she would walk the earth, immortal, until she could understand the value of life and death.

"That won't work." Sojiro lamented softly. "She will not learn her lesson like this."

Indeed, what Salem learned instead was that the gods were fallible, like men. So, she took advantage of this and raised an army, feeding honeyed words to the people. Dreams of a world of immortality, as long as they rebelled against the gods. Sojiro was horrified by what he was witnessing. "Stop!" He yelled. "Don't!"

Sojiro watched as Salem's army charged the God of Light's domain. He watched as the God of Darkness arrived, and furious at humanity's rebellion, did something that left Sojiro on his knees in horror.

He wiped out all of humanity in an apocalypse. "No…" He said softly. "And all because they listened to that woman?"

Sojiro truly sympathized with Salem. But dragging the rest of the world into her grudge against the gods? That was simply too far for him. He was then treated to another horrifying sight. After multiple attempts at taking her own life, Salem had another revelation. If the pools of the God of Light gave her immortality, surely the God of Darkness's pools could take it, right?

Shogo, Shuya and Noriko, who were also witnessing this in their own worlds, almost vomited in disbelief and disgust as Salem's attempt at bathing in the dark pools went horribly wrong. Her body changed forcefully in reaction. Instead of killing her, they transformed her into something much worse.

An entity of pure hatred and destruction…

"By the gods…" Sojiro gazed at Salem's new form in disbelief and horror. He did not know this woman personally. He was only watching her life story. And yet it felt like after watching her entire life up until this moment...it was like watching an old friend make a truly irredeemable mistake.

"What have you done?" Sojiro muttered. "What have you become?"

The scene suddenly shifted again. Sojiro found himself gazing at Ozma and the God of Light once more. He then listened as the God of Light gave Ozma four relics, including that lamp Jinn had come out of. He listened as the God of Light gave Ozma a single task. Work to unite humanity and call the gods with the relics once more. If they were not united...they would destroy Remnant. Until then, Ozma would walk the earth in a perpetual state of reincarnation.

Sojiro's eyes widened. _That is why Ozpin is inside that child's body._ He realized. _How many times has Ozma reincarnated?_

Then, Sojiro watched as Ozma found himself inside the body of someone completely different. He watched as Ozma traveled the world, taking in the new, unfamiliar surroundings. He then watched as Ozma made his way to the domain of the "witch."

"Salem…" Sojiro said softly.

Ozma and Salem greeted each other in their new forms. Sojiro watched as the two seemed to recognize each other. Both smiled and locked hands as their love blossomed once more. He then watched as Salem swayed Ozma into becoming king of this new humanity, with Ozma agreeing, remembering his mission. He also watched as both deliberately hid parts of their stories from each other.

Salem hid why the God of Darkness destroyed humanity before. And Ozma hid the details of his mission from Salem.

Sojiro watched as their new plans for the world blossomed into a kingdom. And from that kingdom...blossomed a family. Sojiro felt his heart warm at the sight of Ozma and Salem's four daughters. However, he found himself visibly concerned...as he knew there was only one way this story could end.

Ozma began to have doubts, as he discovered that Salem was having anyone who objected to living under their rule killed. At that moment, he explained the truth of his mission to Salem...who simply brushed it all off.

"Gods no…" Sojiro slowly began to realize what was about to happen when he saw the look in Ozma's eyes.

And so, Sojiro watched in horror as Ozma tried to usher his daughters out of the castle under the cover of night. "Mommy…" he heard the youngest daughter say before turning to see Salem with a look of utter fury on her face.

Ozma got the girls behind him. Sojiro could not restrain himself from shouting at them even though he knew it was useless. "Stop this!" He yelled. "Don't do it!"

Ozma and Salem leapt at each other, ready to do battle. "NOOOOO!" Sojiro screamed as he tried to get between the two illusions, only for them to go right through his body and begin their fight.

Shuya could only scream in terror from the power both individuals were putting out. Noriko was driven to tears as the love these two shared died in an instant...with their daughters in fact. "Stop…" she wept. "Please...stop…"

Even Shogo had fallen deathly silent. There was just nothing he could say. As a hero of justice, he truly felt useless at the moment.

Sojiro watched as the great tragedy unfolded. And as the castle crumbled, Ozma was the only one left standing. He weakly crawled away from Salem's destroyed corpse, only for Salem herself to reform completely.

"Her immortality…" Sojiro said breathlessly.

Salem pinned Ozma in rage. Before Ozma could say anything, Salem incinerated him, thus beginning a long battle of incarnation after incarnation.

Some tried to immediately pick up the fight. Some tried to live out their days peacefully. Some simply tried to forget. But they all came back to their mission at the end of the day...and at the end of their lives.

Eventually, Sojiro found himself staring at a particular incarnation of Ozma, who had found the Relic of Knowledge. He watched as this particular incarnation summoned Jinn. He watched as Ozma began asking his questions. First, where the other relics were. Then, what the other relics did. And finally…

"How do I destroy Salem?"

Sojiro's face fell as Jinn answered the incarnation's question. "You can't." She said simply.

Sojiro watched as the incarnation fell to his knees in despair. Then, the scene faded, and he found himself surrounded by everyone else once more. Sojiro then gazed at his fellow Travelers. They all gave him sad, sympathetic looks. At that moment, he knew they had seen what he saw. He looked at the people he had helped, and saw their looks of horror. They saw it all too. He looked particularly at Ozpin, who looked like he was about to cry, due to being forced to experience it all once again.

He then gazed at Jaune, who had caused all of this. His face contorted into one of sympathy when he saw the boy's face. It was a mixture of grief, sympathy and anger. Like he was trying to decide whether he should sympathize or be angry with Ozpin, and all of the lives that had come before him.

Sojiro heaved a sigh, remembering a rule of life that seemed true no matter what world you lived in. _Be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it._ He thought bitterly. _And then some you don't want._

 _And these people...they definitely got more than what they wanted…_

Elsewhere, in Salem's domain, the master of all Grimm found herself frowning in anger as she fired a blast of magic at the ground, standing atop a balcony. She watched as the ground exploded into another crater. She growled slightly, as she found herself unexpectedly reminded of _many_ unpleasant memories.

"Bad memories make the worst tales." She muttered to herself.

"Your Grace?" A voice softly called out to her.

Salem turned to see a lanky man with a black ponytail and a scorpion's tale waving behind him. "Tyrian," Salem frowned slightly at him seeing her like this, "what are you doing here?"

"I sensed your troubles, my goddess," Tyrian Callows said to her, "I was...concerned for your wellbeing. Are you alright?"

Salem fell silent at this. "You have no reason to be so sad, Your Grace." Tyrian said to her. "Even though Cinder failed so miserably...we will still bring you victory…"

"Stop." Salem commanded firmly, audibly irritated with Tyrian's presence.

Tyrian froze in place, going pale with fright and worry. "I did not give you permission to show concern for me, Tyrian." Salem reminded the scorpion faunus.

Tyrian shrunk back in fear, like a child being scolded by his mother. "I am in no need of reassurance or sympathy." Salem told him. "I was just...remembering something unpleasant."

Tyrian remained silent, knowing it would not do him well to speak. "Now leave me, I do not wish to be disturbed until Cardinal Higeki contacts me with news of the Relic of Knowledge." She ordered.

Tyrian frowned slightly. He hated how that man had gotten his goddess's attention. "Of course, Milady." Tyrian bowed lowly before leaving Salem to her thoughts.

Salem heaved a sigh. Damn those memories, plaguing her even now. She hated it. She hated the gods. She hated humanity. And most of all, she hated…

"Ozma…" she said to herself.

Elsewhere, the three individuals in black, dressed like clergymen, discussed their next move. Two walked up to the third, who was staring off in the distance. Well, he was sensing, that was the more accurate description. The man was blind. He looked slightly older than the other two men. He had pale white skin, a completely bald head and a beauty mark close to his sightless eyes, which were covered by what appeared to be black sunglasses.

"Ubawa," a young, but very muscular blonde-haired, blue-eyed man with his robes open slightly in the front, exposing his well-defined chest, addressed the man before him. On his back was a zanbato that was his size, "the Black Knight was sent back for further medical treatment. I have to admit, whoever beat him did quite a number on him. If we hadn't arrived when we did, he probably would have died from the cold weather while healing."

The man named Ubawa remained silent. The muscular blonde grimaced and continued. "There's more," he continued, "neither Momoku nor myself can get into contact with Deacon Fuma or any other member of his squad...we can only assume that they were killed in battle."

"Assume? There's nothing to assume." The youngest looking of the trio, a lanky young man with a perpetually grinning face and peach-colored hair that reached down to his shoulders chuckled. This was Momoku. "Fuma and his men are dead. Dead as a doornail. Must've been someone strong to do something like that to eleven of our own. We should track 'em down. The last message we got was from that Jishiro guy, from Fuma's squad. You know, the one with the magnet powers? Said that they had found that relic-thing Ms. Salem's after."

"Which means we need to pick up the slack." The zanbato-wielder noted. "Cardinal Higeki wants that relic brought to her as a gift, in honor of our new alliance. The weight of this task now falls to us, because clearly, the Acolytes and Deacons cannot accomplish this."

"Ubawa, Momoku is right." The zanbato-wielder addressed Ubawa once more. "We need to track these people down before we lose the trail."

"Enough, Kinjo, you stress far too much." Ubawa said serenely.

Kinjo grimaced before falling silent. Ubawa then pointed long boney finger at a particular spot in the distance. "Umm...what are you pointing at Uba?" Momoku inquired curiously.

"A moment ago, I sensed a very strange power." Ubawa revealed. "It's not unlike the Aura these people of Remnant seem to have. And yet...there is something vastly different about it."

"Okay, but this world in general is weird." Kinjo pointed out. "What's your point?"

"The Lady Salem...explained that the Relic of Knowledge houses of being of power, given shape by the God of Light...at least that was the information she had received from her former informant from the place called Haven Academy." Ubawa explained. "It stands to reason...that the source of this strange power is this being inside the relic."

Kinjo's mouth dropped open before grinning jovially. "Well, well, well, well, well," he said, "and who says the blind are useless as hell?"

"Sight is not just limited to the eyes." Ubawa said sagely. "Sight...is a state of mind."

"Lemme guess, you gauged their presence through the use of the air around us." Kinjo joked. "Don't act like some sort of mystic, Ubawa. I know your tricks."

Ubawa frowned at Kinjo's teasing. "If we head in that direction, we should come across the ones with the relic soon." Ubawa noted.

"Sounds like fun!" Before Kinjo could begin moving forward, he was suddenly knocked aside by a giddy Momoku. "I'm gonna go and say hi!"

Kinjo got to his feet and glared at the unseen Momoku. He could only tell just where the man was from the footprints being left in the snow. "Watch where you're going, numbskull!" He yelled in frustration to no avail as Momoku continued to barrel forward towards the spot where Ubawa had pointed.

"A death freak as always. Momoku is always so eager to carry out our practices." Ubawa mused.

"Hey, we all are." Kinjo muttered. "But the least he could do is stick around and let us come up with a plan."

"Let _me_ come up with a plan." Ubawa corrected. "You rarely enter battle with a strategy, Kinjo."

"Hey, I have a strategy when I fight." Kinjo defended himself as the two began to follow Momoku. "I just don't believe you need to make things too complicated. Nothing wrong with that."

"Besides even if these people did take down Deacon Fuma and his squad, there's no reason for us to be too on edge about it. We've got plenty of Acolytes who can easily replace the ten we lost. And plenty of Deacons who are more than capable of picking up the slack for Fuma." Kinjo pointed out. "At the end of the day, they're soldiers. Instruments of our god's will. No reason to get so bent out of shape over some broken instruments."

And there's certainly no reason to get so worried about the ones who broke 'em." Kinjo continued. "I mean, for crying out loud…"

"...Momoku alone is more than capable of taking that relic from these people. They're dead men walking now!"


	4. Chapter 4: Despair

**Chapter 4: Despair**

"Salem can't be killed! You all heard her too, right?" Yang Xiao Long demanded.

The teenagers of Remnant all glared at Ozpin in rage. Qrow simply looked away, unable to look his boss in the eye. Ozpin was in tears at being forced to relive it all again. The Travelers, however, had nothing but sympathy in their eyes for Ozpin. They knew that this was not Ozpin's fault. The man made his mistakes, but who had not in their lives?

"I…" Ozpin began.

"There was so much you hadn't told us! How could you think that was okay?!" Yang interrupted, her eyes strangely red with rage.

Sojiro looked at Yang. _They're not taking this well, none of them are._ He thought. _I understand their frustration...but how can any of them experience all that and not feel a shred of sympathy? They must've truly been through hell recently._

"I can't believe you...she can't be killed! Are you telling me that you were going to drag Pyrrha into a fight where the enemy can't be killed!" Jaune screamed.

Ruby then stepped forward. She seemed calmer than the rest. "Professor?"

Ozpin looked up at Ruby. "What _is_ your plan to defeat Salem?"

Ozpin wept. "I...don't have one." He revealed.

Everyone looked at Ozpin in disbelief. All of this time...and he had no plan. No plan? No plan?! "Damn you!" Jaune screamed, stepping forward and drawing Crocea Mors.

Sojiro's eyes widened. He gave Shogo one look and the man nodded. He then noticed that Qrow was also stepping forward, cocking his fist back. _I need to fix this!_ Sojiro thought frantically.

"Jaune!" Ruby yelled out a warning before he did something he regretted.

However, Qrow seemed to be able to get their first, throwing a punch at Ozpin. Then, in a split second, someone stood between Qrow and his boss, catching the punch with ease. Meanwhile, Jaune was suddenly forced to the ground. Shogo had tackled him in a split second.

As soon as Jaune was brought down, Ren, Nora, Weiss, Blake and Yang all trained their weapons on Shogo. "Shogo!" Noriko and Shuya yelled out in warning for their comrade.

"Get out of my way!" Qrow ignored the situation behind him and glared at Sojiro.

"I'm afraid I can't do that." Sojiro shook his head. "As a teacher, my responsibility is not just to train the bodies of my students, but also their hearts and minds. And right now, you are all about to fail a very crucial test."

Shogo gazed down at Jaune. "Please, calm down." He calmly requested of Jaune, surprisingly talking normal at the moment. "Your anger will not get you what you want."

"I disagree." Jaune growled.

"As for the rest of you," Shogo continued in that calm tone, addressing the five students who had trained their weapons on him, "please lower your weapons. You five are not helping your situation at all."

"Take your hands off our friend, and we'll do just that." Ren glared at Shogo.

"Hey, hey, hey, everyone just calm down!" Shuya screamed frantically. "Look at yourselves, you people are insane!"

Noriko stepped up and gave the students a hard glare. "If you want Shogo to let go of your friend, you need to lower your weapons first." She ordered. "Please, we want to help you people as much as possible, but you're not making this easy for any of us."

"Guys, just lower your weapons." Ruby ordered, horrified at what was happening around her. "Please, just listen to them."

Weiss and the others looked at Ruby before Weiss made the call. "Everyone, lower your weapons." She said before turning her attention to Shogo. "And you, you better keep your word and let Jaune go, got it?"

"Just as long as Sir Jaune promises not to charge Professor Ozpin, I'll do just that." Shogo promised.

"...Fine." Jaune growled.

Shogo nodded and let Jaune up. Jaune was still glaring at Ozpin, however, but at least he was not trying to kill him now. Qrow, however, still needed to be talked down. "I told you to let go, old man!" He demanded of Sojiro.

"I cannot do that, you're still clearly going to strike Professor Ozpin." Sojiro pointed out to Qrow. "As long as you're emotions run wild like this, I'm afraid I can't allow you to just do what you want. Especially when all you're going to do is hurt the young boy who Professor Ozpin currently inhabits."

Qrow realized that Sojiro was right and lowered his fist. However, he was still glaring at Ozpin. "No one wanted me…" The man was close to tears. "I was cursed... I gave my life to you because you gave me a place in this world... I thought I was finally doing some good…"

Ozpin was still in tears. Even moreso at Qrow's statement. "But you are." He insisted.

Qrow looked away, no longer able to look Ozpin in the eye. "Meeting you...was the worst luck of my life." He said simply.

Ozpin looked down dejectedly. "You're probably right…"

Sojiro sensed something that Ozpin was about to do. "Professor Ozpin, I advise you to remain in control for the time being." He said. "You cannot run away from this."

Ozpin froze in place. "...Very well." He said.

Jaune remained in place, but he was still glaring at Ozpin. "How could you?" He demanded. "Did Pyrrha know that Salem was unkillable? Did she even know about Salem? Answer me, Ozpin, did you really plan to send Pyrrha against an unkillable monster?"

"I had every intention of telling Pyrrha about Salem after she took the Fall Maiden's powers. But only if she did so." Ozpin promised. "Jaune, I can assure you, that is not a lie."

"And why should I believe that, when you're clearly incapable of telling us the whole truth!" Jaune screamed.

Sojiro gazed at Ozpin. He could see it in his eyes. That was the truth. "Jaune," Ozpin said softly, "you need to believe that because it's the truth."

"Shut up!" Jaune yelled as he began to cry freely. "You dragged us all into an unwinnable war! You dragged us all to our deaths! Our deaths, Ozpin! Pyrrha died for nothing, and it's all your fault! You're as big a monster as Salem is!"

"That's quite enough, boy!" Sojiro yelled with such force that everyone froze in place.

Ruby's eyes widened at the force of Sojiro's yell. The sheer magnitude behind it actually blew all of the falling snow away. "I understand your rage, I understand your sadness, but you go too far, you all do." Sojiro claimed, now calmer than his last outburst.

"I go too far?!" Jaune yelled angrily. "Don't talk like you understand what we've all been through you bastard!"

"You're right, I don't understand what you've all been through. This world and its events are completely foreign to myself, and to my associates. But, I do understand your emotions, and I certainly know what monsters look like." Sojiro claimed.

"In my long life, I have met monsters in the form of men and women, and I can assure you all, Professor Ozpin is no monster. He is just a man with flaws and mistakes, like everyone else."

"And those mistakes cost a wonderful girl her life!" Jaune screamed at Sojiro now. "She was our friend! Like you could ever understand our sadness! Our rage! Everything! Like you could understand how we feel! You know nothing!"

Noriko, Shuya and Shogo all went pale at that statement. "Oh dear...he shouldn't have said that." Noriko muttered.

Ruby went pale. _Why did the air suddenly just get colder?_ She wondered.

Sojiro then marched right up to Jaune. Jaune's eyes went wide with fear as he gazed at Sojiro. The old man had a look of unbridled fury on his face. Raising his hand, Sojiro backhanded Jaune with incredible force. "Jaune!" Nora and Ren yelled as their former leader stumbled backwards from the force of the strike.

Sojiro narrowed his eyes. "I don't understand those feelings, boy? You dare speak such ignorant words to me?!" He demanded.

 _Impressive,_ Sojiro still could not help but think, _I meant to put enough force into that strike to knock him over, and yet he managed to remain standing. His Aura...it must be stronger than I first thought it was._

"I shouldn't have lost my temper like that." Sojiro then sighed, managing to calm himself. "I apologize, but you shouldn't speak of things _you_ know nothing about, boy."

Sojiro helped Jaune regain his balance. The boy felt no anger at Sojiro, just utter shock. "I have spent thousands of years, burying loved one after loved one. My little brothers...my best friend...my wife...my daughter...all of them lost to me. And you dare tell me that I don't understand your feelings, your pain? It is you who knows nothing, boy. When you've lived as long as I have, pain and loss are practically old friends. I don't deny that your experiences are a tragedy...but do not act as though you are the only one who's suffered in life."

Maria Calavera froze at that statement. She had almost stepped forward to stop all of this arguing before it attracted the Grimm, but now…

"Thousands of years?" Ozpin managed to speak up in spite of his grief. "You've been alive for thousands of years? Just what are you?"

"I'll explain everything once we're somewhere safe." Sojiro promised. "But know this, all of you. I understand quite a bit. Though I have not experienced any of the events you've experienced, but I can assure you, I've definitely experienced the pain you've all experienced."

"And that pain...is why I'm able to sympathize with Professor Ozpin, and why you all need to listen, right here and now." Sojiro told them.

"Is the professor flawed? Yes, I will not deny that." Sojiro admitted. "He should not have promised truth when he knew he could not keep that promise. Instead, he should've admitted his inability to trust you on the grounds he explained out of respect for you all."

"That being said, the way you are reacting to the truth you've all seen is absolutely despicable." Sojiro revealed. "You all saw the truth, you all saw what happened to the man known as Ozma and the woman known as Salem, and this is how you all react? Shameful, absolutely shameful."

"How is that shameful?" Yang demanded. "He lied to us! You even admitted he screwed up! So why are you taking his side?"

"Because you have allowed your rage to take command of your actions, and what's more, you haven't even stopped to consider why he's made the decisions he's made." Sojiro explained. "Do you really think he meant anything malicious when he lied to you?"

That made everyone think at least. "Why does it matter what he meant?" Yang still demanded. "He still lied to us!"

"And did you ever once stop and consider why he felt like he _had_ to lie in the first place?" Sojiro grimly inquired.

Everyone fell silent at that statement. Sojiro sighed. "People spend so much time getting angry when someone _tells_ a lie, but they never stop to consider _why_ someone feels like they _have to_ lie." He explained.

Sojiro gazed at Ozpin with tremendous sympathy. "This Leo, whoever he was, was not the first to betray him to Salem. That means, he has been betrayed numerous times throughout his many different lives." He pointed out. "Do any of you even realize how hard it is to open up to and trust anyone after being betrayed _once_ , let alone the numerous times this man has been betrayed?"

Oh...none of them had thought of that. Sojiro heaved a sigh. "I guess not." He mused. "And what's more. As frustrating as it is that he has no plan to defeat Salem...I do understand why. Professor Ozpin has had multiple lifetimes to try and fight Salem and win. However...something tells me that wasn't the case with a lot of your previous lives. Isn't that right, Professor?"

Ozpin's face fell. "That is correct." He said softly. "I've had so many lives and chances to defeat Salem. I've tried so many different things. I've tried fighting directly. I've tried assassinations by turning her own forces against her. I've tried sealings and traps. I've tried everything I could think of. And every single thing failed. How am I supposed to have a plan to defeat her...when nothing I've tried in the past has worked?"

Ruby found herself close to tears, now nothing but sympathetic for Ozpin and the tragedy that was his very existence. "I see," Sojiro patted Ozpin on the head, "you've been driven to despair. To the brink of giving up yourself. But you find yourself trying again and again, regardless, because you cannot forget your duty to the gods and to humanity."

Ozpin nodded. Sojiro smiled. "The fact that you kept trying is something to be admired." He assured the headmaster. "You may have your flaws, but you are still a good man, Professor."

"Now, do you children understand?" Sojiro turned back to them. "Your rage is understandable...but you cannot hope to progress further if you allow it to rule you. Not only that, but it drives you down a dark path. How long before your rage towards Ozpin turns to rage against the rest of the world? Hatred consumes you because you cannot stand the fact that the people live happily in ignorance while you suffer with the truth. Or worse, how long before your rage turns to apathy, due to your struggles seeming useless?"

"But isn't it useless though?" Blake asked. "Salem can't be killed...wouldn't it be better to just give up and try to live as long as we can. We could live a full life in peace…"

"But you can't bring yourself to do that, right?" Sojiro interrupted.

This made Blake fall silent. "Perhaps you do want to run away, but at the same time, you also know that deep down, you cannot abandon the fight, because that fight was part of why you took on this life." Sojiro noted.

"We signed up to fight monsters! Not some unkillable woman!" Yang yelled.

"Perhaps the job has changed," Sojiro acknowledged, "I certainly do wish that children such as yourself were not pulled into such a life. However, you didn't _just_ sign up to fight monsters. There was something else, deep in your hearts that drew you into the fight."

Those words touched Ruby greatly. _He's right...it wasn't just to fight monsters...I became a Huntress because I wanted to make a difference._ She remembered.

"Regardless of what it was that drew you into this life." Sojiro told them. "You cannot turn away from that same thing. Because I know people like you. Much like those who give their all in service to my kingdom, you all chose to give your all in service to something dear to you all. Never forget that."

"Also, the minute you back out of that life, you lose the ability to fight for what's in your heart." Sojiro further explained. "And this Salem...I may not understand the kind of being she is now, but if she's truly driven you all to this point while not even being present, then she won't stop until she's reached her own goals, and she'll destroy anything that gets in her way. And I am quite familiar with people like her, they will never stop until they've won.."

"And that means, whatever it is you hold close to you. That thing that drove you to this life. It is in danger just from her existence." Sojiro grimly told them. "There is no going back, not because Professor Ozpin got you all involved in this life...but because she is absolutely determined to reach her goals, by any means necessary. Regardless of whatever decisions you may make, you will be on her path one day, and she will sweep you aside without hesitation."

"So tell me, do you really think getting angry at the professor will solve anything?"

"Or better yet, do you really think you can just give up and back out of this life?" Sojiro concluded. "I think you already know the answer to that."

The children of the bunch could only remain silent. Their anger towards Ozpin was still there, but also shame. Because they knew Sojiro was absolutely right. At that moment, Maria stepped forward. "Not that I don't appreciate the wisdom," she said to Sojiro, "but we really need to get out of here."

"I'm just as shocked by all of these revelations as you are. But we need to find somewhere to stay for the rest of the day." Maria pointed out. "And we need to keep our emotions under control. The fact that the Grimm haven't come yet is a miracle, one we shouldn't take for granted."

Sojiro nodded. "She's right," he turned his attention to Ruby, "Ruby, out of curiosity, did you have a destination for the relic in mind?"

"We were going to deliver the relic to General James Ironwood, of Atlas." Ruby responded.

"A military leader." Sojiro nodded. "Good, I need to discuss matters with him as well, about the people who attacked us."

"Who were they anyway?" Weiss asked. "Did they work for Salem?"

"I will answer your questions if you really want me to." Sojiro promised. "But fair warning, the minute you know of them...I fear you may be involved in my fight as well. But considering their plans for this world...you may already be."

"Wh-what are they planning?" Blake asked curiously.

Sojiro took a deep breath. "What they're planning…" Sojiro trailed off as he suddenly sensed a _very_ malicious presence arrive.

He immediately spun to the source and realized what it was going after. "RUBY, WATCH OUT!" He warned.

Ruby looked at Sojiro in confusion as a young man with peach-colored hair appeared behind her, seemingly out of nowhere, with his hand out as though he were holding some sort of weapon. "Gotcha!" Momoku yelled gleefully.

Ruby looked over her shoulder, pale with fright from the man's presence. "Ruby!" Yang and Weiss yelled.

Qrow and Ozpin almost sprang into action to try and save Ruby. However, someone else made it first. Shogo glared at Momoku as he kicked the man in the stomach, pushing him away from Ruby.

Momoku barely seemed fazed by the kick and instead looked disappointed at the fact his sneak attack on the girl who had the relic failed. "Aww, I was really hoping that would work." He lamented.

Shogo glared at Momoku. "To strike a fair maiden from behind without warning. You are the epitome of evil!" He declared.

Momoku laughed. "I guess I am evil. I mean, we do want to destroy everything in the universe! That does make us evil! Oh well!"

"What is up with this guy?" Yang looked at the new arrival fearfully.

"And I thought Tyrian was insane." Jaune muttered. "I think he might give him a run for his money."

Sojiro narrowed his eyes. _Damn it, I thought we would've had more time before another cultist showed up. And what's more,_ Sojiro noticed Momoku's familiar outfit, _he's a much higher ranked fighter than the others. He's a Bishop!_

"Shogo, be on your guard! This one's a Bishop! He's much stronger than the ones from the train!" Sojiro warned his subordinate.

"Sounds like a perfect test for a hero of justice such as myself." Shogo smirked.

"Ooh, I like you." Momoku grinned as he reached for something invisible. "I'm gonna have fun killing you."

Momoku then tossed the invisible object forward. Shogo narrowed his eyes and waved his arms about, blocking the invisible projectiles. Ruby watched Shogo's speedy hands in disbelief. Someone as fast as her just could not comprehend how fast Shogo could move.

Then, the snow parted around Shogo as though the objects were landing. Suddenly, the objects became visible, revealing that they were actually throwing knives. "What the...daggers?" Ren gasped. "Where did those even come from?"

"So that's your Art, huh?" Shogo accused.

"Yep, it's called Invisibility." Momoku revealed. "I can make myself and anything I touch invisible. I can't believe you actually managed to block my throwing knives even though you couldn't see them. Been awhile since I met someone like that."

"Oh, by the way," Momoku's face contorted into a look of sadistic glee, "you missed one."

Shogo grimaced as a dagger revealed itself, embedded into his shoulder. "Mr. Shogo!" Ruby yelled in worry.

Momoku laughed. "Well, hey, nine out of ten ain't bad." He taunted.

Sojiro was suddenly in front of Momoku. "Take this!" Sojiro yelled, throwing a punch at Momoku.

Momoku's mouth dropped open in surprise as his other invisible weapon blocked Sojiro's blow. The invisibility-user was pushed back by Sojiro's blow. "Nice try!" He taunted.

Sojiro turned to Shogo. "Are you alright?" He asked.

Shogo quickly removed the knife in his shoulder and tossed it away. "I'm fine, it'll take more than that to kill the Lightbringer!"

Sojiro nodded and turned his attention back to Momoku. "I told you to be on your guard you fool. The Bishop is one of the higher-ranked officers of the Cult. There are only five other ranks higher than Bishop."

"Right, you mentioned as much when you explained these people." Shogo noted.

"We can't afford to waste time fighting him. You're not strong enough yet to fight Bishops, and I'm nowhere near my full strength. We'll have to fight together to subdue this one. And after we're done, we need to retreat to our headquarters."

Momoku frowned slightly. _Interesting, the old man appears to know an awful lot about us and our ranking system. I guess he's a lot older than he looks, because the last time we had the numbers to carry out our mission...that was a couple thousand years ago. Just who is this old geezer?_

Shogo's eyes widened with glee. "I get to fight by the side of a living legend like Grandmaster Sojiro! This is a dream come true! The hero of old fighting with the hero of...new! It's like the stars themselves wrote this tale!"

"Shogo, focus on the enemy." Sojiro said sternly, wanting to facepalm at the young man's behavior. "If you let your guard down against someone who can turn invisible, he'll…"

"SO COOL!" Shogo and Sojiro looked at Momoku in disbelief. The Bishop now had stars in his eyes.

"So cool! So cool! So cool! I'm actually about to fight the legendary Grandmaster Sojiro! A legendary Watcher!" Momoku could not contain himself. "I can't believe my luck!"

Momoku's face contorted back into that look of sadism from before. "If it's against you, I can really cut loose! Killing you will really make me happy!"

Momoku vanished for a brief moment with Vanishing Walk, only to appear in front of Sojiro in an instant. Before Sojiro could react, Momoku swung the invisible object he was holding. Sojiro's eyes widened as blood spurted from his body, as though he had just been slashed. "Grandmaster!" Shuya and Noriko yelled in concern.

Momoku looked disappointed. "Huh, I caught the grandmaster off guard that easily? Don't tell me he's gotten weaker since the last Crusade of the End. Then again, that punch did seem a bit too weak to be from a living legend."

Then, without looking, Momoku caught a punch from Yang Xiao Long. Yang's eyes widened. _You've gotta be kidding me, how strong is this guy?_

"Yang get away!" Came Weiss's voice.

Yang was quick to rocket herself away with a blast from Ember Celica. Then, before Momoku could react, he was sent flying by a giant ice sword. Weiss glared at Momoku while her summoned Arma Gigas stood out in front of her with its sword extended outwards. "I don't know who you are and what you want, but if you think I'm going to let you kill my friends, you're sorely mistaken!" Weiss declared.

Momoku seemed more amused than in pain as he continued to fly backwards. "Take this!" Nora fired a grenade from Magnhild's grenade launcher form. The grenade exploded as soon as it neared Momoku.

"What are you children doing?" Sojiro demanded as the former students of Beacon Academy stood in front of him. "You cannot fight this monster!"

"Listen, Mr. Sojiro, I don't know what's going on here, but you helped us out before. So let us help you now." Ruby told him, already having drawn Crescent Rose to fight. "We're gonna return the favor, no matter how many times you tell us not to!"

"Ruby…" Sojiro said softly.

"Oh just shut up. I don't want you to get the wrong idea, old man, I'm super pissed right now. We all are." Yang entered the conversation, glaring at the cloud of smoke where Momoku was with bright red eyes. "I'm pissed at Ozpin for keeping so many damn secrets. I'm pissed at Salem for wanting to kill everyone on Remnant. I'm pissed at whoever these guys are because they keep attacking us. And I'm pissed at you because of everything you said."

"But most of all, I'm pissed at myself because everything you said was right. I didn't sign up to fight monsters. I didn't sign up to fight Salem. I didn't even sign up to have a crap ton of adventures and find my stupid, selfish mom."

"I signed up because my baby sister has always wanted to do this, fight to protect others. And someone needs to keep an eye out on her. That's what's dear in my heart that I want to protect." Yang declared.

"Yang…" Ruby said softly.

"Aww, that's so cute." Momoku taunted. "It's just too bad you're all gonna die now."

The smoke suddenly cleared, revealing that Momoku was nowhere in sight. "Where the hell is that nutcase?" Qrow demanded.

"It's his power!" Ozpin realized. "He turned invisible again as soon as he was under the cover of the smoke."

"That's a smart little boy right there." Momoku's voice giggled. "Oh, wait a minute, you're not just a boy. I can sense two souls inside that body. So neat! I wonder if killing you and using all the negativity in your soul to feed my lord would be doubled if that were the case!"

"Can anyone get a read on his presence?" Sojiro demanded.

"Not a thing." Noriko admitted. "He must be suppressing his Reiki."

"What is he even talking about?" Nora wondered with fright.

"Aww...you're scared," Momoku teased, "but that's okay. When you're dealing with something unfamiliar, of course you're gonna be a little scared. Just like wittle babies who are new to the world."

"Who is your 'lord'?" Ruby demanded. "Aren't you working for Salem?"

"Working for Salem? Nah, I'm actually working with her. See, Ms. Salem wants that relic you're carrying, and Cardinal Higeki wants us to get it for her. We just want to do something nice for our new ally. Try to understand." Momoku revealed.

Sojiro's eyes widened. _The Cult has teamed up with Salem?_ _That's not good. And there's a Cardinal here as well? Damn, have they recovered more of their strength than we realized?_

"Now then," Momoku suddenly appeared in between the Beacon students prepared to strike down Ruby, "I'll be taking that relic if you don't mind."

"Watch out!" Sojiro yelled.

"NO!" Ozpin yelled, firing a burst of pure magic energy at Momoku.

Momoku let out a yelp as he was struck by the magic and pushed away by Ozpin. "Bastard!" Yang yelled, furious at him for trying to strike her baby sister again.

"You'll pay!" Weiss and Blake added as WBY attempted to strike Momoku simultaneously.

Momoku recovered and laughed as he leapt over their attacks and gracefully landed like an acrobat. "Whoa now, looks like Mr. Two-Souls is actually pretty strong too...but your power is also a lot weaker than it should be, just like Grandmaster Sojiro's."

Momoku pouted. "Man, talk about a buzz-kill, here I was, super stoked to fight a living legend, and he's declined big time. I almost want to cry because of how bad my luck his."

Ruby turned her attention to Ozpin. "Professor, I…" Ruby began.

"Don't say anything, all of you." Ozpin said lowly. "I have a lot I'd like to say to you right now. But let's save it for when we get away from this monster."

Ozpin glared at Momoku. "Right now, I really don't care about Salem. Right now, what matters to me is that I almost gave into my own despair. But seeing a man like Grandmaster Sojiro...well, I can't afford to fall behind and I certainly can't despair. Right now, what matters most is that I do my duty as headmaster, and protect my students!"

"You almost gave into despair, huh?" Momoku was surprised before smiling. "Well that's no good, almost isn't good enough. I guess I'll just have to really make you give up hope."

Before Momoku could resume his assault on the group, a new voice spoke up. "Zero Air."

At that moment, all of Momoku's enemies started gasping for air. "Wh-what is this?" Blake wondered fearfully. "Why is it suddenly so hard to breath?"

"Air...air…" Nora choked out.

Momoku pouted. "Aww," he said, "why'd you have to go and ruin my fun, Uba?"

Bishop Ubawa sighed as he joined Momoku's side. "We are here to take the relic, Momoku, not play with our food." He claimed. "It is far more thorough if we simply suffocated them and took the relic off the girl's corpse."

"Poo," Momoku stuck his tongue out, "no fun, no fun, no fun."

Sojiro gritted his teeth. _Damn, another Bishop...and this one seems to be manipulating the atmosphere around us. He stole the oxygen in the area._

"Nice moves, Ubawa." Kinjo suddenly leapt into view and joined his fellow Bishops, grinning with glee. "You got 'em all in one shot."

 _A third Bishop now!_ Sojiro was visibly concerned at the sight of Kinjo's arrival. _Damn it, the situation just got even worse!_

"Kin, you're on my side, right?" Momoku whined. "Tell Uba to let up so we can kill 'em properly!"

Kinjo sighed. "Sorry, Momo, but Ubawa's right. Cardinal Higeki's not gonna be happy if we're screwing around and they somehow get away. Honestly, I'm surprised they're still alive. I thought you'd have killed them by the time we got here."

"Well, I thought so too; but guess what, there's actually some strong guys here that got in my way. Check it out, some Watchers are here in Remnant. And one of 'em is Grandmaster Sojiro."

This caught Kinjo's interest. He gazed at the old man in front of him and laugh. "Whoa!" Kinjo grinned. "No way, that's awesome. The legendary Grandmaster of the Menou Army all the way out here."

"Oh wait," Kinjo chuckled, "you can't respond. You can't breath."

Suddenly, Nora collapsed as she was suddenly pumped full of electricity, courtesy of Weiss Schnee and Myrtenaster. "Okay, what the hell is that all about?" Kinjo looked at Nora and Weiss in confusion.

Then, much to Kinjo's further confusion, Jaune placed his hands on Nora. Both Jaune and Nora lit up in a gold aura, courtesy of Jaune. "What is happening, Kinjo, I sense something very different." Ubawa pointed out.

"I don't know, Ubawa, the brats are doing something weird." Kinjo shrugged.

"It looks pretty cool if you ask me." Momoku grinned.

Nora then glared at them all. While she could not let out any sort of roar, her mouth opened as she produced a tremendous amount of electrical energy, aided by Jaune's Aura Amplification Semblance.

"Oh crap…" Kinjo muttered as the trio of Bishops were struck by electricity.

Suddenly the group found themselves able to breath again. "That was too close." Weiss muttered. "Good plan, Jaune."

"No kidding, good call, Jauney." Nora grinned.

"Yeah, I'm just glad you knew what to do as soon as I started amplifying your Aura." Jaune panted, trying to catching his breath.

"Very impressive, Sir Jaune." Shogo complimented. "That power of yours is quite useful."

Ruby then noticed something off. It was like...she was suddenly sensing three life forces inside of the smoke. "W-wait...it's too early to celebrate!" She declared. "I think...they're still alive in there!"

"She's right," Sojiro nodded, "everyone be on your guard. It's probably best we separate, so that one who can manipulate the atmosphere doesn't catch us in that technique of his again."

 _Impressive,_ Sojiro thought to himself, _she's only been fighting Watchers a day and her senses have already developed to the point where she can actually sense their energy. Ruby's growth rate is quite impressive. I'll have to tell her of this new power so that she doesn't worry there's something wrong with her._

The smoke settled and it was revealed that all three Bishops were indeed still alive. Ubawa had erected some sort of barrier. "Aerial Sphere." Ubawa revealed the name of his barrier. "That was a bit too close."

"No kidding, an attack amplified to that point...it might've actually scratched us a little. This world is so weak, too, compared to the ones that those Acts are from. We'd have never heard the end of it if we actually got hurt a little." Kinjo noted, sweating a bit from that last attack. "Thanks Ubawa, guess we let our guard down."

"Cool…" Momoku just grinned.

Ubawa frowned. "I keep reminding you fools to take this seriously. The least you can do is listen for a change." He told them. "Need I remind you that we have superiors counting on us?"

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Kinjo sighed.

Kinjo then laughed in amusement as the barrier came down. He stepped forward, hefting his Zanbato over his back, pointing it threateningly at the group. "Still, I can't get over how full of surprises these other worlds are." He admitted. "I think I'm now starting to realize how Deacon Fuma and his squad lost to you people. You guys are crafty."

Kinjo surveyed them with his superior sensory abilities. "Yeah, I can tell...you guys aren't much right now...most of you aren't anyway, but give it time...and you could actually be...something of a nuisance in the future."

Kinjo then noticed Ruby for the first time. "Wait a minute…" he trailed off.

Kinjo saw the color of Ruby's eyes and his eyes widened with glee. "Silver eyes!" He exclaimed. "Well I'll be damned, you must be little Ruby Rose!"

Sojiro narrowed his eyes. _Why are her eyes so important? It appears there are more things about this world I don't yet understand._

Maria gazed at Ruby in disbelief. _Her eyes are silver? Damn, I couldn't tell because of my defective eyes!_

Ruby narrowed her eyes in anger. "So, Salem told you guys about me?" She demanded.

"Hey, hey, hey, what's with that look, kiddo?" Kinjo taunted. "This is your lucky day. You get a stay of execution, because Ms. Salem wants you brought to her alive. Apparently, you've been a bit of a thorn in her side. Not a big one...but she's not really happy about what you did to her...Fall Maiden, apparently."

"Take it up with someone who cares!" Ruby spat. "I'm not going to forgive her, or her people for what they've done!"

"Ooh, now that's a good look. I love it. Man, you've definitely got some bad blood with Ms. Salem. I wonder why that is." Kinjo grinned. "Well, Ms. Salem did say she wanted you brought to her alive...but I don't think she'll mind if I bring you twisted, mangled and broken."

"That's not going to happen!" Yang yelled.

"Shut up, Future Corpse." Kinjo brushed her off. "The living are talking. So what do you say, Ruby? I'm sure you'd love to meet your archenemy."

"Not yet," Ruby growled, "I'm staying right here with my friends."

Kinjo chuckled. "Good," he said eagerly, "that's going to make this a hell of a lot more fun. I really shouldn't be messing around...but frankly breaking wide-eyed folks like you is a damn hobby for me!"

Kinjo leapt towards Ruby, covering the distance between them in a split second. "Get away from my niece you jackass!" Qrow yelled, blocking Kinjo's zanbato with the sword version of Harbinger. Both hands on the hilt of his weapon.

"Hmm, and I recognize you too, Ms. Salem also mentioned you." Kinjo noted, casually pushing back against Qrow with one hand on his zanbato. "The name's Qrow Branwen, right?"

Qrow growled. "And what does it matter if it is?"

"Well, out of everyone here, we were told we could take initiative and kill you." Kinjo pointed out. "But first, a little torment as I weigh you down with despair!"

Kinjo tapped Qrow's shoulder with his free hand. Qrow's eyes widened as his body suddenly felt heavier. The veteran Huntsmen dropped to his knees, his body no longer able to support his own weight. "What...what is this?" He demanded.

"That would be my Art: Weight." Kinjo grinned cockily. "I can increase and decrease the weight of anything I touch. I just made you too heavy for your own limbs to support."

"Uncle Qrow!" Ruby quickly trained Crescent Roses rifle attachment on Kinjo and fired.

Kinjo casually blocked the bullets with the flat end of his blade. "Gonna have to do better than that." He taunted.

"Hyah!" Nora swung Magnhild at Kinjo, only for him to catch the hammer.

Nora let out a shriek as she found herself no longer able to lift her hammer. "Hang on, Nora!" Ren yelled in concern, firing bullets from Stormflower at Kinjo.

Kinjo sighed and raised his arm, letting the bullets bounce off of his body. He then noticed the Arma Gigas coming towards him and leapt away before the giant could try and crush him with his blade.

"Spread out but stay close to each other!" Ruby yelled. "We can't get separated. They'll just pick us off more easily that way."

Ruby then remembered that Qrow was immobilized. Ozpin noticed what Ruby was thinking and immediately stepped in front of Qrow protectively. "Don't worry, I'll keep him safe." He assured her.

Ruby nodded. This was not the time to distrust Ozpin. Not when everyone's lives were on the line. "Oz," Qrow muttered, "my Semblance...it'll…"

"Qrow, I know you're worried about bad luck, but with all due respect, the fact that these three are even here is probably the worst luck possible." Ozpin pointed out.

"...Fair enough."

Ubawa listened as his opponents began to spread out. "Impressive...now I can't trap them in Zero Air, or we'd get caught in the attack." He noted. "These humans are craftier than we gave them credit for."

"Which means we need to get rid of 'em all the old fashioned way." Kinjo pointed out.

"Kinjo, don't kill Ruby Rose." Ubawa reminded him. "Lady Salem…"

"I know, I know." Kinjo grinned. "Again, that doesn't mean we can't rough her up a little."

Kinjo charged into the fray first, going after Ruby and Weiss first. "I'm coming for you!" He yelled, raising his Zanbato over his head.

"Ruby, get behind me!" Weiss ordered, creating a defensive glyph with her Semblance.

However, much to the horror of the ex-Schnee Heiress, Kinjo shattered the glyph with a single swing. Ruby and Weiss were forced to back away as Weiss created more glyphs to defend themselves from Kinjo. Kinjo just laughed and broke each glyph with his frighteningly high physical strength and zanbato.

Ruby gritted her teeth and drew Crescent Rose. She quickly shot Kinjo point blank. "Direct hit!" Ruby declared as Kinjo's head whipped back from the force of the shot.

Then, Weiss and Ruby watched in horror as a small object fell from Kinjo's head to the snow. It was the bullet. It had caved in from the impact. "No way…" Weiss muttered.

Kinjo leaned forward and gave the two girls a cocky grin. "Nice try, girls. Still too weak though." He taunted them.

"What is this guy? Who just shrugs off a bullet to the head?" Weiss thought in fear as the two Huntresses leapt away from Kinjo.

"Aww, don't run!" Kinjo yelled. "The fun's just getting started!"

"Who said anything about running?" Weiss yelled angrily. "Now leave us alone!"

Weiss created another glyph, this time summoning a Queen Lancer that flew towards Kinjo. "Oh no, not the bees!" Kinjo said sarcastically.

"Is it just a requirement for these people to be insane?" Weiss wondered as the Queen Lancer trained its stinger on Kinjo.

The Bishop heaved a sigh. "Come on, do you really think I'm going to be scared of sword fighting a damn insect? Don't make me laugh!"

Kinjo swung his Zanbato and shattered the stinger with ease. "You stupid brats have no idea how large the universe really is! And you're never going to learn it, because by the time this is over, one of you is going to be dead, and the other Ms. Salem's captive."

Kinjo then bifurcated the the Queen Lancer summon with ease. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me." Weiss muttered in fear.

Kinjo then grinned wildly before preparing to leap at the two girls once more. However, Shogo suddenly leapt in, kicking at Kinjo. Kinjo quickly blocked with his zanbato but was pushed back from the force of the blow. "Are you two alright?" He asked.

"Ruby, Weiss!" Yang called out in concern as her and Blake joined their two teammates.

As Kinjo recovered from the force of the kick, Shogo looked over at Nora and Ren, who were being overwhelmed by Momoku. "Can you four hold that guy back for awhile, I think your friends need help." Shogo said.

"We'll take care of this guy." Blake promised.

"Fight on, brave warrior maidens." Shogo grinned before rocketing away.

Team RWBY watched as Shogo sped over to Momoku and tried to kick him in the head, only for Momoku to duck with ease. "Nice try!" Momoku said with glee as he swung at Shogo with his invisible weapon.

"Okay, I guess we'll just have to hold back this guy until Shogo manages to take the heat off Nora and Ren." Blake noted as Kinjo casually strode towards them, swinging his zanbato about without care.

"Do you have a plan, Ruby?" Weiss asked.

"I...think I do." Ruby admitted. "But I'm not sure, this guy...I think he might be stronger than Cinder. I don't know how to plan for this guy."

"Well hey," Kinjo heard that, "maybe you can come up with a plan? Just don't give up. Fight on! You've got a reason to hope, don't you?"

"After all, I love watching hope crumble. Nothing better than watching hope crushed by the weight of despair." Kinjo taunted.

"One of your people said that you wanted to kill people just because you wanted to, is it really that simple for you?" Ruby demanded.

Kinjo shrugged. "Some people have complex reasons, some people have simple reasons, some people have no reason. It really doesn't matter. The fact is, we just want to make the universe burn. Whatever reason we have...we're all united by this desire."

"You know," Ruby growled, "I can sympathize with Salem at least. Her life was a tragedy...but the fact that you people want to do it just because...I can't sympathize with that, nor can I understand it!"

Kinjo shrugged. "No need to overcomplicate things, Ruby." He told her. "Think of it this way, regardless of our motivations, or lack thereof, at the end of the day, we're enemies."

"Now that, I can agree with." Ruby admitted. "Team RWBY, we're taking this guy down. Don't let him touch you or your weapons."

Team RWBY trained their weapons on Kinjo, who just laughed. "Such feisty little children." He mused. "I'm going to enjoy this so much, it should be illegal. Well, it kinda is."

While Kinjo clashed with Team RWBY and Momoku continued to assault Nora, Ren and Shogo, Ubawa stared down Ozpin, Sojiro and the downed Qrow. "Are you good to fight, Professor Ozpin? Your Aura seems to be declining." Sojiro noted.

"I could ask the same of you." Ozpin admitted. "My sensory abilities aren't what they used to be, but thanks to my magic, I can at least get an idea of what your energy is like. And your power is declining too."

"Well, when you get to my age, that's just unavoidable." Sojiro admitted. "But, I am confident if we combine our power, we have a chance at beating this man."

Ubawa seemed interested in his two opponents. "Professor Ozpin and Grandmaster Sojiro...very interesting...very interesting. Professor Ozpin, Lady Salem was under the impression that you are dead...and would remain such for awhile."

"Rumors of me staying dead for 'awhile' were greatly exaggerated." Said Ozpin.

"So it would seem...the air tells me that you are inhabiting the body of a child now. How very interesting." Ubawa mused.

"Indeed, and I owe him an apology, just as I owe so many others." Ozpin admitted before turning to Sojiro. "Grandmaster, before we face this man, allow me to say one thing."

"Thank you," Ozpin gave Sojiro a small smile, "I was truly about to fall into despair and hide from their righteous anger like a coward. But...your words inspired me to try again. I think it was what we all needed to hear at that moment."

"I'm a teacher, Professor, much like you." Sojiro said to him. "I consider anyone I see who needs guidance my student. This world may be foreign to me, and you all may be strangers. But after the things we've already been through together, as far as I'm concerned, that makes you both friends and students."

"Well, I definitely appreciated it." Ozpin admitted. "And when this is over...I'm going to properly apologize to my students. They deserve it after all of my failures. And then...I'm going to do everything I can to find a new plan to defeat Salem."

"It appears you've recovered your fighting spirit, please combine it with mine." Sojiro requested.

"Gladly," Ozpin nodded as a visible aura of green energy appeared around him.

"Reinforcement!" Sojiro yelled.

 _This won't be enough to do any lasting damage to this man, but if I combine my strength with Ozpin's, we can at least push him back. And if the others can just push back everyone else, then Noriko and Shuya can open our path into the Void. Then we can escape and come up with a new plan._

"Out of respect for your statuses, I have given you time to think and converse." Ubawa claimed. "Furthermore, I shall allow you the opportunity to pray. Unless you wish to fight now?"

"I think we will fight!" Ozpin and Sojiro said in unison as the two rushed Ubawa.

Ubawa nodded. "Very well then," he said as he condensed the air in front of him into a single sphere, "then fall to that which gives life. Aerial Detonation!"

The sphere then expanded into a massive explosion that blew the snow off the ground, kicking up a small snow tornado. Ozpin quickly erected a barrier while Sojiro simply tanked the blast with ease. "Such strength!" Ozpin was surprised.

"This is the might of a Bishop." Sojiro claimed. "They are among the six most elite ranks of the organization he is a part of."

"And just what organization is that?" Ozpin asked.

"As I'm sure you've figured out by now, not one from Remnant." Sojiro responded. "Once we escape, I promise, I will tell you all about it! All of you!"

"Escape, you fools. You're not going anywhere." Ubawa calmly claimed, holding his hand out like he was about to karate chop the air in front of him. "Aerial Slicer!"

Ozpin moved in front of Sojiro and swung his cane about, blocking the air blades that were being fired towards them as Ubawa swung his hand about. "This Art reminds me of that Deacon from the train." Sojiro noted.

"I did teach Fuma for awhile. His wind art was similar to my air art." Ubawa admitted.

"Tell me, is he dead?" Ubawa calmly inquired.

"I think you know the answer to that." Sojiro growled. "I executed them while they were unconscious. I wasn't going to let them kill themselves. Putting them out of their misery was a kindness. One they did not deserve, considering the amount of people they probably have already killed in your brand new crusade.."

"How he died doesn't matter. His misery as a failure will feed our god." Ubawa claimed.

"By the gods, he'd brush off the death of one of his own like that?" Ozpin was shocked.

"You'll get used to men like this." Sojiro responded. "Trust me, people like him are quite common across the universe."

"Love is a weakness." Ubawa claimed. "Friendship, happiness, it's all a crutch. Those emotions are no nourishment to our god. As such, I have no need for them either."

Ubawa then stopped swinging and pointed his index finger at Ozpin. "Aerial Point."

There was a brief whistling sound before Ozpin found the very air itself piercing through his shoulder. "Gah!" Ozpin yelled in pain.

"Are you alright?" Sojiro stepped in front of Ozpin protectively.

"I'm fine, it's just a flesh wound." Ozpin claimed. "Still, Oscar, I'm sorry your body had to get hurt like this."

 _Don't worry about it, just try to keep us both alive!_ Oscar frantically told him.

"Kinjo views despair as that which crushes hope. Momoku views despair as something that should not be seen coming. It's arrival without warning is what drives people into grief. To me...despair is gasping for your life as pain and agony wrack your body. Despair is that...and there is no way to escape it." Ubawa revealed as multiple small spheres of air solidified around him.

"I see a few thousand years of almost being wiped out hasn't caused your faith to reexamine any of its tenets." Sojiro sarcastically noted. "Still obsessed with despair. And what are the others again? Death, destruction and denial, right?"

"That is correct. I'd expect nothing less from one of the veterans from our last crusade." Ubawa noted. "All four tenets feed the universe with negative energy...paving the way for our Lord's return."

"Now die, Aerial Shower!"

Ozpin and Sojiro were forced on the defensive as the small spheres of solid air were launched towards them. Ozpin swung his cane about, destroying as many spheres as he could while Sojiro karate-chopped them all into oblivion. However, a few spheres managed to get through their defenses and strike them in multiple non-vital areas.

Ubawa let a small smirk grace his lips. "You've both avoided mortal damage...but I wonder how long you can hold out."

Sojiro grit his teeth. "Professor Ozpin," he addressed the man next to him as a new plan came to mind.

"Come now, Grandmaster." Ozpin smiled slightly. "After all this...I feel like you can just call me Ozpin if you wish."

Sojiro smiled back. "Only if you stop referring to me as 'Grandmaster', since technically we're both around the same age." He joked before adding seriously. "I need you to gather as much magic in your free hand and hold it near me."

Ozpin did as asked, but was very confused. He gazed at the green orb of magic. "What exactly are you planning, Sojiro?" He inquired.

"If two warriors have their energies on the same wavelength," Sojiro explained, "they can combine their power into an even greater technique. This is obviously known as a Combined Attack. I'm not entirely certain I could do this with your students and Qrow yet, due to my uncertainties of how Aura works."

"However, with you," Sojiro continued as he began to fuse visible Reiki with Ozpin's magic, "I can combine my Reiki into an even greater attack."

Ubawa narrowed his sightless eyes, sensing the sudden spike in power. "What?" He said flatly.

"Apologies, Bishop," Sojiro said sarcastically, "but we have no intent to break just yet!"

Sojiro charged forward with an emerald-colored orb in the palm of his hand. A look of worry crossed over Ubawa's face. "This is not good." He muttered, holding his palm out. "Aerial Cannon!"

"Combined Attack: Emerald Star!" Sojiro countered, thrusting the emerald orb forward as it suddenly expanded and then fired like a rocket's engine.

Ubawa's sightless eyes widened as the Emerald Star pushed through his Aerial Cannon before being enveloped in an explosion of energy that made everyone stop in their tracks. "Whoa…" Ruby muttered, gazing at the destruction.

Jaune was gazing at the results while hanging back from the fight. The snow that had been in the Emerald Star's path had melted away almost instantly...along with the trees. "As expected of our Grandmaster." Noriko muttered while Shuya hid behind her. "He managed to get his power on the same wavelength as Professor Ozpin's for a Combined Attack."

"I've seen quite a bit in my time...but you people are unlike anything I've seen before." Maria admitted.

Noriko chuckled sheepishly. "That's the thing though, we're not exactly what you call the A-listers of our kingdom. I mean, the Grandmaster was once...but, well, that was a long time ago."

Maria wanted to be stunned at that revelation, only to turn her attention to Jaune, as she had her own plan. "You, boy," she said, "listen to me, I need you to bring me over to that girl, Ruby."

"What?" Jaune looked at Maria in disbelief. "How am I supposed to keep you three safe if you're trying to drag yourselves into the fight?"

"Hey, don't lump us in with the old lady!" Shuya freaked at that statement, much to Noriko's annoyance. "Believe me, I'd rather just stay right here."

"Listen, young man," Maria said, "that girl has powers that could very well be the key to getting us out of here alive. I don't know if they'll actually work, but I have to try at least."

"A-alright," Jaune honestly still did not understand what was going on, but he was willing to try if Maria was.

He was the strategist. Another reason he was hanging back was to try and come up with a plan to beat these guys. And he just could not figure it out. All three were just too strong for him to actually have a full-proof plan for. Strategizing for Grimm was one thing...this was quite another. These people were monsters. So if Maria had a plan, you better believe he was going to listen.

Meanwhile, Kinjo seemed distracted, as he frantically looked for Ubawa among the smoke. "Where's Ubawa?" He demanded.

"Oh no!" Momoku seemed genuinely freaked at the thought of Ubawa being injured.

Kinjo was then pushed back by a summoned Boarbatusk. "Why you…" he growled, furious at being taken advantage of while he had been distracted. He grappled with the summon, trying to crush it with his bare hand.

Blake then leapt above the Boarbatusk and at Kinjo. "A little too obvious, kitty cat!" Kinjo yelled, impaling Blake on his zanbato.

"Blake" then gave Kinjo a triumphant smirk and exploded, destroying the summon and making Kinjo stumble back from the force. "Damn it!" He cursed in frustration.

A red and yellow meteor then came out of the smoke. The meteor then split into two as Yang Xiao Long revealed herself, glaring at Kinjo. Caught off guard by the explosion, Kinjo was left wide open as Yang punched him with the full force of her strength and the added momentum, emptying a shotgun shell into the man as well for added damage.

Kinjo was once again pushed back. He then looked up to see a red meteor form into Ruby Rose, who was glaring down at him. "Team RWBY's full-force team smash attack." She revealed, firing Crescent Rose behind her to increase her momentum as she spun down towards Kinjo.

Letting out a powerful yell, Ruby swung Crescent Rose with another force to generate a red razor wind that tore towards Kinjo. "Yeah right!" Kinjo yelled, preparing to swing his zanbato horizontally to block the razor wind.

However, Kinjo suddenly found his sword arm slowing down. "What?" He looked off to the side to see that his zanbato was caught in a glyph that was slowing his sword down.

"Ice dust combined with normal glyphs." Weiss Schnee revealed herself, smirking triumphantly. "Normally, when I use lightning dust, I get a time dilation field. Put these two together, and you've got…"

"A glyph that slows down time?" Kinjo was stunned by the sight as he was struck in the chest by the razor winds from Crescent Rose.

As this happened, Shogo took advantage of Momoku's own distracted state and kicked him into the air. "A hero such as myself needs to take inspiration from other great heroes." Shogo noted. "So, here we go!"

Shogo rocketed into the air with his speedy Art, kicking Momoku multiple times. "Brilliantly Shining Meteor Barrage!" He yelled before flipping above the invisibility user and kicking him in the face, sending him crashing downwards.

"Alright!" Nora cheered for Shogo's actions while Ren simply breathed a sigh of relief.

Shogo landed gracefully. "So, what did you think of the finishing move of a hero?" Shogo grinned.

"It was awesome!" Nora cheered. "You were all like: 'Brilliantly Shining Meteor Barrage'! And he was like 'AGH!' Does naming your attacks make them stronger or something?"

"Do you...not name your special techniques?" Shogo gazed at Nora and Ren in surprise.

"Not...really." Ren admitted.

"Techniques? Without names?" Shogo seemed scandalized by the very thought of it. Scandalized, I tell you!

Sojiro looked over his shoulder and smiled with relief. "Alone, they stand no chance, but as a team, they're actually holding their own quite well." He noted.

"They are amazing." Ozpin smiled before noticing that Sojiro was bleeding from the mouth. "Sojiro…"

"It's fine...just something I have to live with. Like I've been saying...I've really gotten old over these past few years." Sojiro brushed the matter off.

 _But enough of that. This might be our chance at escaping while our enemies are stunned._ Sojiro noted inwardly.

"Noriko, Shuya!" Sojiro called out to the two Travelers before a blast of air suddenly blew away the smoke from the Emerald Star attack. His eyes widened in disbelief. "No…"

Ubawa was standing in the dead center of where the cloud of smoke had been. His arm was somewhat mangled from the blast, but other than that, he was still alive and well. "How loathsome...to think the Bishop Triad of Despair could be taken off guard like this."

Kinjo, who had briefly been forced to his knees by Team RWBY's combined attack, rolled his eyes in frustration as he got to his feet. Blood dripped from the _small_ slash wound from Ruby's last attack. "No kidding. I hate to admit it, but we really underestimated these brats...that just pisses me off." He admitted before smirking. "But hey, not bad, Ruby, you get points for trying."

"Oh you've got to be kidding!" Yang could not believe what she was seeing as Team RWBY formed up.

"We hit him as hard as we could and he's just walking it off like it's nothing?" Blake was now visibly frightened by Kinjo.

"You poor, miserable kids." Kinjo grinned. "You have no idea what power really is. Here, let me give you a thought to stew over. My boss, the Cardinal in charge of our Triad? He's ten times stronger than all three of us!"

Ruby went pale with fright. There was someone who was that much stronger than Kinjo? But Kinjo himself was a monster!

Meanwhile, Momoku rose to his feet, much to the surprise and concern of Shogo, Nora and Ren. "Did I not give my technique a strong enough name?" Shogo wondered.

"Nah, it was just a little too predictable." Momoku grinned. "Still, not bad. You could actually be our strongest Deacon with that level of power. But, too bad for you, now we're serious."

"Sorry about that Ubawa," Kinjo apologized, "you're at least fighting Ozpin and the Grandmaster, we don't exactly have a good excuse for what just happened. I'm honestly not too proud of how this has played out."

"It's fine...just kill them and get the relic." Ubawa told them.

Kinjo smirked as he hefted his zanbato over his shoulder. "You heard the man, Momoku, let's end this."

"Time for my favorite part of the game." Momoku giggled giddily as he pointed his invisible weapon at Nora, Ren and Shogo. "Sudden death."

With that, Ubawa, Momoku and Kinjo were all enveloped in auras of visible Reiki as they exerted every ounce of their power. The people of Remnant all froze in disbelief at the power they were letting out.

 _Oh God, they were holding back all along._ Weiss thought to herself.

"I'm coming for you!" Kinjo yelled.

"Time to die!" Momoku added.

In a split second, Kinjo and Momoku were right in front of their respective groups of opponents, ready to deal the killing blow. Maria and Jaune could only watch in horror, thinking they would not make it to Ruby in time. _Not again!_ Jaune thought in fear and grief.

"That's enough you three." An authoritative voice spoke up.

Kinjo, Momoku and Ubawa all froze in place because of that simple order. Whoever said that...they clearly were loyal enough to listen him.

Everyone turned to the source of the voice and watched as a thuggish, rough yet regal looking, dark-haired man, dressed in black robes reminiscent of a high-ranking holy man in a church, casually strode into view.

"I assigned you three to take the Relic of Knowledge when it became clear that one of our Acolyte Squads had failed to do so." The man noted. "Why have I not received that relic yet?"

"My apologies, sir." Ubawa dropped to one knee in reverence. "We were...caught off guard by the resourcefulness of our opponents."

"You three are Bishops." The man pointed out. "That is no excuse."

"...I understand, Cardinal."

Ruby's eyes widened at that single word as she stared at the regal-looking thug. She felt sweat roll down her face just from looking at him. The man then trained his gaze on her and Ruby almost felt her limbs turn to jelly.

 _What is this?_ Ruby wondered. _This insane pressure I'm feeling just from his presence? It's like I'm being crushed by the weight of the ocean. Is this his power? His intent to kill?_

 _Oh God...this power is on a completely different level!_

Sojiro was also frightened, but for very different reasons. _Damn it, of all times, one of these people has to show up now?_

"All three of you, come here." Cardinal Higeki ordered.

In a split second, all three Bishops had returned to the Cardinal's side. Everyone else was frozen in place, too frightened of this man's mere presence. Higeki heaved a sigh. "I'm not even angry at your failure to retrieve the relic on your own. What irritates me...is that you three have gone about this mission completely the wrong way."

At that moment, a small tornado of sand appeared in the palm of Higeki's hand. Sojiro's eyes widened. "Ozpin!" He shouted.

Ozpin immediately understood what he must do and sped towards the four defenseless members of the group. Sojiro, meanwhile, ran towards the closest person he could protect. "Now, Sandstorm!" Higeki commanded.

Elsewhere, the engineer of the Argus Limited, who had taken over driving the train after the conductor's death, noticed something odd from his side mirror. He took a closer look at it, and much to his shock, he saw what appeared to be a sandstorm in the distance.

"Wh-what the hell is that?" He wondered. "That shouldn't be possible."

As the sandstorm began to die down, the carnage was revealed. Snow had been replaced by sand. Trees had been uprooted and tossed about. Even parts of the nearby mountain had been completely destroyed. Bumblebee had been utterly wrecked. That single attack created a miniature desert in the snowy forest.

Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren were lying close together, both bleeding and unconscious from the attack. Shogo was barely conscious, trying to force himself to his feet. Ozpin had erected a barrier in front of Jaune Arc, Maria Calavera, Noriko and Shuya to try and protect them. However, the attack had blown through and forced the protected off their feet...and had heavily injured Ozpin. Jaune looked at his former headmaster in disbelief. He had said all those things...even tried to kill the man, and Ozpin still protected him without hesitation.

And finally, Team RWBY was strewn about, conscious, but immobile from pain and fear. Yang Xiao Long's eyes were wide and was hyperventilating as she laid on her stomach. Blake Belladonna was in tears from fear and pain as she clutched her injured arm. Weiss Schnee looked like she was about to vomit as she tried to stop the bleeding in her side.

And Ruby Rose was being held onto by Sojiro, who had taken the brunt of the attack to protect her. She was now staring at Higeki with utter fright.

"What is hope?" Higeki began. "To me, hope is the belief that no matter how bleak things may seem, it will all work out in the end."

There was no time to fight. No time to run and escape.

"With that in mind, what is despair?" Higeki continued. "Is it merely the opposite of hope? The idea that things won't work out, no matter how much you want it to?"

When Ruby looked out at the area now, she saw no battlefield, only a graveyard in the making.

"No, that is not despair." Higeki revealed. "How can someone possibly despair when they were allowed to believe there was a chance in the first place? When someone is allowed to hope...they cannot possibly despair because they can return to that feeling of hope and press on."

The Grim Reaper himself was standing tall now. The shadow of death was looming over the fallen.

"But what if you were to take away that hope? To make it clear that there is none to begin with?" Higeki questioned.

Ruby then found herself remembering something Kinjo had said earlier.

"To truly drive someone to despair, you must not allow them to have hope in the first place. You must make it clear that nothing will turn out well, no matter how hard they try." Higeki revealed. "That means, you cannot hold back. You must crush your enemies instantly. No playing, no honor, just death."

" _My boss, the Cardinal in charge of our Triad? He's ten times stronger than all three of us!"_ Kinjo had said.

"True despair is not the opposite of hope. It is the very _denial of hope_." Higeki concluded.

 _It's not true...it can't be true._ Ruby thought in fear, wanting to bury herself in Sojiro's protective embrace like a frightened child. _Don't tell me..._ _ **this**_ _is a Cardinal's power?_

"So tell me," Higeki addressed those he had just destroyed in the span of a second, "do any of _you_ have _any_ hope left in your hearts?"

This is Cardinal Higeki.

And _this_ is despair.

 **A.N: Holy shit. Cardinal Higeki. My take on the "No-Nonsense Nemesis" antagonist. Seriously, this dude marches right into the field and just one-shots almost everyone because he doesn't want to give anyone any chance at hope. The message is clear, don't screw with a Cardinal, or the Bishop Triad under his command for that matter. I'd like to point out, there are three other Cardinals in this group, and three other Triads that serve directly under them. Yeah, these guys are not folks you want to mess with.**


	5. Chapter 5: Silver, the Color of Hope

**AN: When we last left some of our new heroes...they were in a very crappy situation. There's just no other way to say it. How will they get out of this one? Let's find out!**

 **Chapter 5: Silver, the Color of Hope**

Kinjo chuckled as he gazed at the destruction out in front of him. His mind flashing back to the moment he first met the Cardinal, his superior.

 _"I would like to introduce you all to Higeki,"_ their 'caretaker' had said when they were children, _"Already, Higeki shows more promise to be an asset to our cause than all of you combined. Respect him, for he may one day be your superior on the battlefield when we begin our noble crusade once more."_

Higeki was a quiet child back then, with eyes as dead as a corpse. Even back then, he looked the part of a delinquent with a rough-looking face and spiky hair. Kinjo had grinned. _"If you're gonna be my superior, you better be strong. Being in charge means you've gotta be able to handle the pressure, and those who are strong can handle the pressure."_

Kinjo remembered pointing a smaller zanbato at Higeki. _"So what do you say, Geki-boy?"_ He inquired. _"Want to show me that strength the adults are salivating about?"_

Higeki gazed at Kinjo dispassionately. Then, without a single word, Kinjo was knocked into the wall behind him by a sudden tornado of sand. Kinjo gasped in disbelief. _"Whoa!"_ A young Momoku screamed in disbelief. _"That was insane! You flew, Kin!"_

Kinjo could only gape before laughing happily. _"Holy crap, you are strong! Yeah, I'd definitely love to have you as my boss one day!"_

Higeki simply sighed. _"Whatever."_ He muttered.

Kinjo chuckled at the memory. He then gazed at the desert that Higeki had created with a single attack. _That's just the kind of thing you expect from a guy as strong as Higeki. Those poor schmucks didn't stand a chance._ He thought derisively.

Kinjo then noticed the few opponents who were still standing. _The fact they're_ _ **all**_ _still alive is impressive enough. But the fact that a few of them are actually standing is…_

Jaune gazed at Ozpin in disbelief. He had said all those horrible things to Ozpin, tried to kill him even, and he still tried to protect him without hesitation. "Professor…" Jaune said breathlessly.

"Don't say anything, Jaune." Ozpin said softly, panting weakly from the force of the attack that had broken through his magic barrier. "You have no reason to thank me...this is...the least I can do after everything I put you and your teammates through. I only wish...Pyrrha was still alive so that I could apologize properly to her as well."

Higeki glared at Ozpin. "You think you've accomplished anything?" He inquired. "You have no right to hope. And you certainly have no right to give anyone else any hope by keeping them alive."

"This isn't about hope." Ozpin growled. "I'm just...doing my duty as headmaster. No matter what happens, no matter how many times I fail, I cannot forget my duties."

"Do you hear me!" Ozpin yelled. "I don't care how much stronger you are than me! I'm still the headmaster of Beacon Academy, and to protect my students I will fight!"

"Is that so?" Higeki said softly.

A long, thick string of sand formed from Higeki's finger then coiled about in front of him. "Desert Whip!" Higeki yelled, launching the whip of sand forward, ripping into Ozpin's chest.

Ozpin's eyes widened as blood flew from his body. "Oscar...I'm sorry...your body." He said breathlessly.

 _Professor!_ Oscar yelled worriedly, knowing he was the only one feeling the pain between the two of them. He tried to take control back to try and give Ozpin a break, only to discover that Ozpin was refusing to give up control, most likely to protect him from the pain.

"Professor Ozpin!" Ruby yelled in concern and horror, still trapped in Sojiro's protective embrace.

Qrow weakly reached out to his superior, having been taken out as well. "Oz!"

Noriko almost instinctively ran towards Professor Ozpin to try and treat his injuries, only to be frozen in place by Higeki's glare. Noriko almost fell to her knees from the power behind it. _Gods, I can feel his Reiki. It's overwhelming_ She thought to herself. _Damn it, I'm just a medic! I'm not supposed to get involved in stuff like this! I treat injuries, not take part in battles!_

Shogo glared at Higeki. "Bastard!" He yelled. "When I get up, I will show you what a hero of justice can really do!"

Higeki turned the full force of his glare towards Shogo. "Kinjo," he addressed one of his Bishops, "why are these people so...hopeful? They have no reason to stand up and oppose me, right?"

Kinjo heaved a sigh. "I don't know what to tell you, Cardinal Higeki." He admitted. "These people have a few screws loose."

Higeki fell silent at that statement. "In the face of such overwhelming power, they cling to hope." His face contorted into a look of rage. "That is unforgivable."

"You don't know that, Cardinal." Kinjo tried to placate his boss. "Think about it, maybe these guys are just loons? They could be putting on a brave face when they are, in reality, one moment away from giving up hope."

Higeki seemed to consider that statement. Kinjo heaved a sigh of relief. Higeki's power was like a raging sandstorm, reflected in that destructive attack of his earlier. If he lost his temper, even the Bishops would have to flee the area.

"I can assure you, Shogo may be a bit crazy, but he hasn't given up hope!" Sojiro suddenly shouted out, letting Ruby go, but keeping a protective arm in front of her. "And I haven't either!"

Higeki dispassionately turned his attention to Sojiro. "And you are?" He inquired curiously.

Ubawa answered that for Sojiro. "Cardinal Higeki," he said formally, "that is Grandmaster Sojiro, the legendary instructor for the Menou Army, and a veteran who had fought against us in the previous crusade."

Higeki frowned, clearly uninterested. "And a relic of the past means something to me, because?" He brushed the threat off. "I'm not interested in a damn fossil. I'll just bury him in the sands of death like everyone else."

"Cardinal, this man was the right arm of the Founding Emperor himself. The Founding Emperor, as in, the man who single handedly ended our conquest several millennia ago. Brushing him off would be an unwise move." Ubawa pointed out.

Higeki narrowed his eyes. "I'm well aware of the history involving our people's previous crusade." He said. "And my hatred for the Founding Emperor...along with everyone who was involved in stopping us, burns brightly, like the rest of our forces."

Higeki turned his attention back to Sojiro. "Which means in spite of your status as a washed-up relic, you've earned my attention, old man."

Sojiro glared at Higeki. "I don't know how your people managed to regain their numbers after back then, but for Kaishi's memory, I'm going to make sure every last one of your miserable lives are ended this time!" He yelled. "I won't let you do to this world what you've done to so many worlds! What you almost did to mine, thousands of years ago!"

Higeki stared silently at Sojiro before responding. "You have the fire of a legendary warrior, but no power to back it up." He noted. "What a shame, it appears age has even bested the legendary Grandmaster himself."

"Even so, you stand before me, ready for battle." Higeki continued. "Unfortunately for you, I have no intention of fighting. I am only here to kill."

"You're a fool, old man," Higeki said derisively, "if you really expect me to fight you honorably. You're mistaken, I do not have a warrior's spirit like you Menou trash. I am a soldier of despair, never forget that. I will crush whatever hope you have."

"And I think I will start by crushing that one right there." Higeki turned his attention to the injured Weiss as a giant tendril of sand appeared in front of him. "Desert Wrath!"

Ruby's eyes widened as Higeki targeted her best friend. A strange power began welling up inside of her. However, before it could fully manifest, Sojiro sped in front of Weiss protectively. "Starlight Breaker!" Sojiro yelled, throwing a punch forward to try and match Higeki's Desert Wrath. Ruby visibly calmed down at the sight of Sojiro protective Weiss.

While Sojiro had managed to destroy Higeki's Desert Wrath, his arm was badly mangled in the process. "Grandmaster!" Noriko yelled in concern.

"How about another." Higeki said dispassionately as he drove another sandy tendril into Sojiro's chest.

Sojiro gasped in pain as the sand dug into his body. "You bastard!" He seethed, managing to keep his composure. "You targeted a girl who couldn't even fight back? She's just a child!"

"I told you," Higeki said, "I do not have a warrior's spirit like your previous opponents. I just want to kill every last one of you. I knew you would protect the girl, so I took advantage of that simple fact. You Menou soldiers are all the same. So easy to take advantage of."

More sandy tendrils formed around Higeki's body. "I wonder who I should go after next?" He wondered curiously. "You're so predictable, it's going to be so easy to bring you down, living legend or not."

 _Mr. Sojiro…_ Ruby thought fearfully.

"How about her? Can you save her in time?" Higeki inquired curiously, launching a tendril of sand at the immobile Yang Xiao Long.

Sojiro's eyes widened fearfully as he tried to run to Yang to protect her, only to fall to a knee and vomit blood. _Damn it!_ Sojiro cursed his misfortune and weakness. _My body has reached its limit!_

Sojiro gazed at Shuya and Noriko. _If we just had a moment, they could open a gate to the Void and we could escape! We'd be safe there! But as soon as that Cardinal notices them attempting such things, he'll target them instead!_

Then, Sojiro's attention was taken by a scream of fear. "YANG!" Ruby Rose yelled as a silver light erupted from her eyes.

Kinjo and Momoku both gaped in disbelief while Ubawa grimaced, sensing the sudden change in Ruby's power. The tendril attempting to take Yang's life froze in place as Higeki turned his attention to Ruby. The light faded and Ruby was back to normal. "That power," Higeki muttered, "you must be Ruby Rose...you do indeed have silver eyes."

Sojiro gazed at Ruby in shock. "What power…" he muttered.

Ruby gazed at Higeki in exhaustion. During that brief moment where Higeki had been distracted by Ruby's sudden outburst, Maria Calavera acted. She was now right behind Ruby. "Child," she said into her ear, "your eyes, are they really silver?"

"Yes…" Ruby said weakly.

Higeki trained all the tendrils on Ruby and Maria. "Change of plans, I'm killing you first." He said simply.

"Whoa, hey, Cardinal Higeki!" Kinjo tried to stop the man. "Salem wants Ruby brought to her alive, remember?"

"And Salem is wrong to desire such. Just because we are allies does not make her above reproach." Higeki brushed the matter off. "If her existence is allowed to continue, things will only become more complicated. This world will not become like one of the Act Worlds, with this girl serving as a beacon of hope for the people. I will not allow that."

This made the Bishop Triad fall silent. The Act Worlds, the worlds where the Four Acts of Order, heroes whose existence was tampered with by King Chitsujo himself, roamed free, hailed as beacons of hope in their respective worlds. Those worlds...even they knew they could not hope to exterminate the populace. They were too far out of their league. Cardinal Higeki was right. They could not let this girl become anything close to those four.

"Once Salem knows and understands my reasons, she will accept them and we will move forward with our plans." Higeki assured his subordinates. "Much like everyone else in Remnant, she knows nothing of what the universe truly is. I will educate her."

As Higeki prepared to execute Ruby and Maria, the old woman remained calm as she tried to speak with Ruby. "Listen to me, Ruby, do you have a family? Friends?" She asked.

"Yes…" Ruby responded weakly before having her attention turned to Higeki preparing his killing blow.

It was all over, she was going to die and so was everyone else...

"Don't think about him," Maria told her, "Think about the people who love you. Focus on the thought of them, the way they make you feel. Focus!"

 _I don't know if this will work._ Maria thought to herself as she gazed at Sojiro. _But I have to try. I refuse to give in as well!_

Ruby did so. Slowly, memories of those she loved ran through her mind. Taiyang Xiao Long, her father, doing his best to fill her life with love and happiness while playing the role of a single dad. Yang, who was the best big sister a girl could ask for. Weiss and the moment they became best friends. Blake, every time she returned to Team RWBY. Jaune, Nora and Ren, during their travels to Haven. Uncle Qrow and the times they spent training together, becoming like a second father to her. Her mom, and the thought of the pride she must feel towards her, beyond the grave. And Mr. Sojiro...who was so kind to her, even though they had just met.

Slowly, the power began to well up inside of her once more…

"Life...is beautiful." Maria told Ruby. "It is precious. And it must...be protected."

And with that, something snapped inside of Ruby. Letting out a roar of power, Ruby stared right at Higeki as the man launched his attack. "Desert Wrath!" Higeki yelled as the tendrils lunged at Ruby and Maria.

Then, much to the shock of everyone present, that silver light from Ruby shone brightly once more, but with a much greater brilliance and in much greater quantity. Higeki's dispassionate face broke as his eyes went wide, watching his sandy tendrils be vaporized by Ruby's power.

 _That's impossible._ He thought simply, because it should be impossible.

The silver eyes were only supposed to effect Grimm. Why were his attacks being destroyed?

The light continued to burn through Higeki's Desert Wrath, making its way towards him and his subordinates. "Oh crap." Kinjo muttered while Momoku found himself sweating fearfully. Ubawa simply remained stoic.

Higeki did not hesitate. His lips curled into an irritated frown as he held his hands out in front of him. "Desert Wall!" He yelled, erecting a massive barrier of sand that collided with the silver light, protecting himself and his subordinates from Ruby's attack.

Sojiro's eyes widened, realizing something. That single moment, with Higeki blinded by his own defenses and Ruby's sudden attack, was exactly what they needed. He turned his attention to Shuya and Noriko. "Get us out of here, now!" He yelled at them.

Shuya and Noriko frantically nodded. Shuya immediately set to work at opening a portal while Noriko and Jaune picked up Qrow and Ozpin. Shogo, who had recovered enough to move, quickly scooped up Nora and Ren, while Sojiro forced himself to move. Operating on sheer willpower, the old man managed to pick up Weiss, Blake and Yang, purposely saving Ruby for last so she could keep up her distraction.

"This door is a door to a path," Shuya frantically chanted, "and this path is a path to everywhere. Now open and show us, this path of infinite destinations!"

Higeki's eyes widened. _No!_ He frantically thought, realizing what was about to happen. Something he could do nothing to stop. The silver light began to slowly burn through his Desert Wall.

Drawing on every ounce of his strength, Sojiro sped towards Ruby and Maria. Displaying a surprising amount of grip strength and care, Sojiro scooped both Ruby and Maria into his arms. The man was now holding five people like groceries. "Ruby, stop!" He ordered as he sped towards the portal. Everyone else had already entered.

Ruby gasped, hearing Sojiro's voice. The light suddenly vanished. As the Desert Wall began to collapse, the portal to the Void closed, with everyone safely inside of it.

Sojiro immediately fell to his knees atop the golden pathway on the Void. Coughing and bleeding, visibly exhausted. He gingerly dropped the five people he was carrying. "Grandmaster!" Noriko yelled, rushing towards his side.

"Forget about me." Sojiro muttered weakly. "The others are in much worse shape. Shuya, get our headquarters out. It should adapt to its new residents."

"Y-yes sir." Shuya was still in utter disbelief that they had escaped certain death.

The neurotic telepath quickly unsealed the residence of the Travelers and watched as it reformed itself into what appeared to be a mansion. Jaune, meanwhile, was looking around in disbelief. He was staring at...nothing. Absolutely nothing. And it baffled the hell out of him.

"What is this place?" He wondered. "Are we in space?"

"Close but not quite." Sojiro shrugged off Noriko so that she would focus on one of the people of Remnant. "Everyone get inside of our headquarters. Noriko will treat your injuries there."

Noriko sighed at Sojiro's behavior and walked over to Ozpin/Oscar. "The professor is the most critically wounded right now. I'll need to get right on him. I'm going to need the rest of you to simply hold out until I can get to you."

"Let me help you," Jaune suddenly offered, "I could maybe amplify your healing abilities with my Semblance."

"I'd like that, thank you, Jaune." Noriko nodded, now focused entirely on her duties as a medic.

Ruby groaned, managing to stay standing in spite of how exhausted she was. "Ruby," Maria said to her, "if you can move, help the others get the wounded inside of this headquarters."

"Right…" Ruby muttered as she lifted Yang to her feet.

Slowly, everyone was brought inside the Travelers' Headquarters. It honestly looked like a mansion, with a massive living room for everyone to spread out on and try to rest and recover. Noriko and Jaune were in the next, treating Ozpin/Oscar. Sojiro and Shogo, both collapsed onto their rears in exhaustion. "Normally I don't consider it heroic to retreat," Shogo muttered. "But I'm glad we're all still alive."

Sojiro nodded in agreement. "Agreed," he said as he then turned his attention to Ruby, who was gazing at everyone in concern. It did not seem fair that she got out alright and they all did not.

Sojiro smiled reassuringly at her. "Ruby, you have nothing to be ashamed of." He promised her. "It is thanks to you that we were all able to escape in the first place."

"I didn't do anything though," Ruby denied, "I just...followed Maria's instructions."

"And you followed them splendidly." Maria assured Ruby. "Honestly, I wasn't certain of how effective the silver eyes would be, considering those men weren't Grimm. But, I'm glad things worked out. It was a gamble I'm glad I took...even though I really had no choice but to take it."

"Survival, oddly enough, goes hand in hand with risk." Sojiro sagely pointed out. "And those who are willing to take risks in a fight for survival, often have their faith rewarded."

Sojiro would have walked over and patted Ruby on the head. But he honestly could not move at the moment. It hurt to move. "You were wonderful, Ruby." He promised. "You may not realize it, but in that moment, you became stronger. Much stronger."

Ruby blushed, grateful at such high praise. "Yeah, don't be so hard on yourself, Sis." Yang smiled, sitting off in the corner. "None of us would be here if it wasn't for you and your freaky laser-beam eyes. So, thanks."

Everyone else nodded in agreement, one by one. Ruby almost started weeping tears of joy. "I'm just...glad you're all okay." She said simply.

"Still, I wonder why the eyes worked to such an effect." Maria admitted. "They should only be able to harm Grimm."

Sojiro thought the matter over. "If I may," he said, "there is a distinct possibility that Ruby's powers evolved as a response to new threats in her environment."

"Wait, so she adapted like some kind of animal?" Yang asked in confusion.

Sojiro nodded. "Ordinarily, it is considered a grave sin for different worlds to interact." He explained. "Not only would conflict inevitably arise, but there's also the concern that new 'mutations' in power might occur. If I had to guess, Ruby's body and her powers naturally adapted to fighting this new opponent. Her body was in danger from this new threat, and it responded.."

"That quickly? She was only in a few fights." Weiss pointed out.

Sojiro smiled proudly at Ruby. "It appears our adorable little reaper here has quite the growth rate." He mused, making Ruby blush in embarrassment once more.

"Hold on, you said 'different worlds'." Blake interrupted. "Are you telling me that it's all true? That you're from a different world?"

"Whoa, so you really are aliens?" Nora gasped.

Sojiro chuckled. "I guess we are technically aliens." He mused. "I never really thought of it that way."

"Anyway, the point is, because of the events of today, Ruby's powers adapted to this new threat." Sojiro concluded. "It's still just a theory, of course, but I'm sure plenty of my old friends back home would attest to it. But, it's not like we have much to go on. Like I said, it's normally viewed as a grave sin for other worlds to interact. There's always the concern the results will turn out like...well, like they have today."

"Well, it wasn't all bad." Ruby innocently pointed out. "We met you and your friends, didn't we?"

Sojiro could not help but smile at that statement. He seemed to space out for a moment, much to Ruby's concern. "Mr. Sojiro?" Ruby asked in concern.

"Oh, sorry, Ruby." Sojiro chuckled in spite of himself. "I guess I spaced out there. Gods, you really do remind me of my daughter. It's almost scary how similar you two are. She was just as innocent and optimistic as you were. Sometimes, people could not help but wonder if she really was suited to lead my king's elite guard, but that innocence hid a wisdom that few possessed."

Ruby smiled. "You must've have been very proud of…"

The girl trailed off, remembering a very tragic fact. His daughter was among those he had listed as being people he had buried. Her face contorted into one of grief when it fully hit her. Sojiro said nothing when he saw her face. "Mr. Sojiro, your daughter. Is she…" Ruby trailed off, unable to say it herself.

Sojiro sighed. "She's gone." He said simply. "Kyoko...lost her life in an incident a few hundred years ago."

"I'm so sorry." Blake said softly.

Yang fell silent. She knew what it was like to lose a loved one. Summer was, by all accounts, her true mother after all. Raven was her mother by birth, but she would never be called 'Mommy', not like Summer was, back then.

Sojiro smiled. "But I am proud of what she was, more than you could ever know...well, if any of you ever have any children, I'm sure you'll understand one day."

"If we're still alive to have children." Weiss muttered bitterly.

"Weiss!" Ruby was horrified by her friend's bitter, cynical statement.

"Weiss has a point." Ren was just as bitter. "If Salem can't be killed, is there still a point to fighting? We barely escaped with our lives fighting against her new allies, and…"

Before Sojiro could say anything to encourage them, Ruby beat them to the punch. "I get it, you're all scared." She said. "I'm scared too. I mean, yeah, we did almost die out there. And that Cardinal made it look so easily."

"But even so," Ruby continued, "regardless of what the rest of you choose, I'm going to keep fighting. That's a promise."

"Ruby…" Qrow looked at his niece in disbelief.

Ruby smiled bravely at them all. "I know it seems hopeless, but...Mr. Sojiro is right. Regardless of what we choose, Salem will one day come after us, and she won't even need a reason to. Because that's the kind of woman she's become. She just sweeps everyone aside without hesitation, just to reach her goals. And now that those others are working with her, that day won't just come sooner...it's already here."

"And they're not just going to come after us. Guys, they're going to kill everyone. And by everyone, I mean _everyone_. The other people we went to school with, our families, whatever other friends we have. _Everyone._ That's accurate, right Mr. Sojiro?"

Sojiro nodded grimly. "Yes." He said softly.

"But aren't you scared?" Nora asked.

"Like I said, I'm terrified," Ruby admitted, "but I'm more terrified of what will happen if I don't fight. And I'm certainly not going to let them kill everyone, not without a fight. If there's anything I can do, even if it's just a little bit, I'm going to do it."

"It's like Maria said," Ruby looked over at the old woman and smiled. "Life is precious, it's beautiful, and it must be protected."

Everyone fell silent at Ruby's determined, heartfelt speech. Weiss then gave her best friend a smile. "You've come a long way from the girl who picked her nose in Professor Port's class."

Ruby stuttered in utter betrayal at that statement. "Weiss!" She whined.

"When I first met you...the word that came to mind was purity." Blake admitted. "But now, another word comes to mind."

Ruby looked at Blake in interest, wondering what it was. Blake then gave Ruby one of the most genuine, heartfelt smiles she had ever seen from the Faunus. "Hope," Blake told her.

Nora and Ren gazed at each other and then nodded in unison. "You're right, Ruby." Ren said. "Nora and I...we've both already lost so much."

"And I...we don't want what happened to us, to happen to anyone else." Nora added. "We're with you until the end."

Yang gave Ruby a proud smile. "Honestly, it's the big sister who's supposed to be the more mature one." She joked. "Well, you already know my answer. Big Sis is with you, Ruby. Someone needs to look out for you, after all."

Qrow heaved a sigh. "I'm going to need a ton of drinks after all this mushy crap." He muttered before giving his niece a small smile. "Okay, kiddo, if that's really what you want, I'll do everything I can to help ya out."

Sojiro smiled proudly at Ruby's ability to rally everyone with little more than an honest, pure heart; a smaller more honest soul. _You'd like this girl, Chitsujo._ He noted. _Give her time, and she'd fit right in with the Royal Army._

Sojiro then remembered something from Ruby's earlier mentioning of Maria. "Maria," he addressed the woman, "if I may change the subject, how was it that you knew so much about Silver Eyes? Enough to coach Ruby on using them?"

"I'm...kinda curious about that too." Ruby admitted.

Maria chuckled. "Well, at this point, I think that should be obvious." She pointed out. "Once upon a time...I too had Silver Eyes."

This made everyone's mouths drop open in unison. Maria sighed. "Once upon a time, I was a Huntress, like you." She began. "I traversed the land, using my weapons Life and Death, and my Silver Eyes to bring down Grimm after Grimm with the greatest of ease."

Qrow's eyes widened, he recognized the names of those weapons. "Life and Death," he muttered, "you were...the Grimm Reaper!"

"The Grimm Reaper?" Sojiro raised an eyebrow at that title.

"The Grimm Reaper wasn't just any old Huntress," Qrow pointed out, "she was a living legend. I based my Harbinger's design off of her weapon. And then...she just…"

"Vanished," Maria finished, "it was pretty easy, too. Nobody knew who I really was. But...someone knew enough about my powers to decide I was a threat that needed to be taken out."

"Salem?" Sojiro wondered out loud.

"Most likely," Maria shrugged, "I was targeted by a dangerous warrior and her associates. She mentioned a master. I killed them...but in the process, I lost my eyes."

"I just...couldn't continue after that." Maria bitterly admitted. "How could I fight while blind? Without such a mighty weapon on my side. It didn't help that for the first time in my life, I was truly scared for it. And I just didn't know how to deal with that. In a way, I envy you children, you're all able to continue even though you've lost just as much, if not more than I have."

Maria sighed. "You said you wanted to be like me." She said to Qrow. "You shouldn't. You don't want to be a disappointment who's too scared to do anything, anymore."

"But, you can do something now." Ruby suddenly offered.

Everyone gazed at Ruby, who smiled gently at Maria. "You can teach me," she said, "I...still know nothing about these eyes. I want to master them, so I can protect my friends and family, and Remnant from Salem and those cultists. Please, Maria, I need your help."

Maria gazed at Ruby in disbelief before letting out a small chuckle. "'Please, Maria, I need your help.'" She repeated. "You know, back then, it was always: 'please, Grimm Reaper,' nobody ever asked for my help by my own name."

"I have to admit, it feels nice." Maria admitted before giving Ruby a smile of her own. "Alright, Ruby, you've got yourself a teacher. I don't know how much I'll be able to do, especially if Sojiro is right and your eyes have evolved beyond their original power. But, I'll do my best."

Shogo, who was weeping silently in the corner from all the heartfelt talk going on, was now full-on bawling. "IT'S TOO MUCH!" He screamed. "ALL THIS PUREHEARTED HEROISM FROM SUCH A SWEET MAIDEN! I CAN'T TAKE IT!"

"Oh shut up already!" Yang yelled.

At that moment, Noriko suddenly entered, wiping sweat from her brows. "How is the professor?" Blake asked in concern.

Noriko smiled gently and gave them all a thumbs up. "It was touch and god a few times, but he pulled through." She proudly announced. "Now then, who needs treatment the most right now?"

"Nora does," Ren gestured to the girl next to him, "she took a lot of bad hits during the last few fight."

"Ren!" Nora whined. "Come on, I can take it! You should go next!"

"Nora, please don't argue now." Ren gently but sternly ordered her. "Please, for me, just go next."

Nora fell silent at Ren's request. Sojiro chuckled at the fact that those two were so clearly in love. Noriko, without waiting for Nora to respond, lifted the girl to her feet. "You'd have to be pretty selfish to refuse him after that, Nora." She joked. "Come on, let's get you healed up."

"...Fine." Nora muttered. "Ren goes next though."

And so, one by one, Jaune and Noriko worked together to heal the injuries of each injured person. By the time they got to Sojiro, both Noriko and Jaune looked like they were ready to collapse, which led to Sojiro and Shogo working to take those two to two beds.

Much earlier, back in Atlas' snowy mountains. Higeki watched in a surprisingly calm fashion as the portal closed in front of them. Kinjo, however, had no such restraint. "Oh son of a bitch!" He screamed. "We were so close! So close, and we tripped at the damn finish line!"

Momoku just sat cross legged and pouted while Ubawa stood calmly, trying to restrain himself from an outburst of his own. Higeki then heard the sound of liquid dripping onto the snow and gazed down to see that some of the snow had turned red. He then gazed at the palm of his hands and saw that they were covered in blood. It was his blood. The Silver Eyes' power had torn through his palms, leaving them bloody, mangled messes.

Kinjo noticed this and gasped. "Cardinal!" He yelled in concern, rushing towards him. "You're injured!"

"I'm hurt, not injured." Higeki corrected. "Injured means I can barely continue. Hurt just means I've got a few bad cuts."

"S-Sir, you have no more skin on the palms of your hands." Kinjo pointed out. "I think this goes beyond hurt."

Higeki brushed the matter off. "They will heal just fine." He insisted.

Momoku got up from his seat and gazed at the Cardinal's bloody hands. "The Silver Eyes did that? But don't they only work on Grimm? Ms. Salem told us that when she explained to us who we were hunting, right?"

"She did say that," Higeki nodded, "and it seems...she was incorrect. No, not necessarily incorrect. Perhaps she had incomplete information. Either way, this is vastly different from what we were first told."

Ubawa grimaced at this. "We lost too. They got away."

Kinjo growled. "So what do we do now?" He asked. "We've gotta go after them, right?"

Higeki shook his head. "There is no way to go after them. They entered the Void. The Void has no coordinates to lock onto. It constantly shifts about like a Rubik's Cube. That's why it's impossible to find you once you get trapped inside of it. Wherever their headquarters are, they're probably close to the nearest worlds, including this one, but they still change positions constantly with the rest of the Void. Which means we'd be stuck forever trying to find them. It's suicide."

Kinjo was furious. "What, so we just admit defeat and let those insects keep the Relic of Knowledge?"

"That is exactly what I'm saying." Higeki nodded, surprisingly calm. "We're going back to Salem's domain. We must report on our failure."

Momoku gave Higeki a happy smile, trying to reassure his boss. "If I may, Cardinal, if it'd make you feel better, we could go and destroy Argus before we go."

"Why would we destroy Argus?" Ubawa asked curiously.

"Well, a thought occurred to me," Momoku smiled eagerly, "they were heading to Argus, they were probably trying to get to Atlas through that city."

"Okay, and?" Kinjo folded his arms, wondering what the battle freak of the trio was getting at. Because, honestly, he did not know what he was getting at.

"Well there's a lot of red tape in all that political stuff, right? And with Atlas closing its borders, then there's a ton of red tape that'll slow 'em down." Momoku pointed out. "That means, they're going to be stuck in Argus for awhile."

"Which begs the question," a dangerous glint appeared in Momoku's eyes, "where do they expect to stay? Perhaps with the family of one of their group mates?"

A smile curled on Kinjo's face. Okay, now he was starting to get Momoku's plan. It was so deliciously petty and he loved it. "So we burn down Argus with everyone in it, on the off-chance one of that group has got family there to send a message." Kinjo chuckled at the thought. "Yeah, I love it. Nice to see you've got a brain in there, Momo. You've been holding out on me."

"No," Higeki said simply, "we are heading straight to Salem's domain, no arguments. We will not waste our time burning down Argus, not yet anyway."

"Aww…" Momoku whined.

Kinjo sighed in disappointment. "Well, you're the boss, Cardinal."

"Now, Desert Falcon." Higeki waved his hand out in front of him and a large mass of sand formed into a giant falcon in front of the cultists.

Kinjo heaved a sigh. "Moments like these are when I wish we could teleport like Menou and Rakuen could. But, we lost the knowledge on how to use it after our last crusade. Well, I do love to fly, so I guess this works."

All four cultists mounted the bird, which immediately took off and soared into the clouds. Shortly after, Higeki noticed a city far below them. He narrowed his eyes. "That is Argus, correct?" He inquired.

"Umm, yeah." Kinjo noted. "That's where the train tracks headed, so I guess that's where Argus is."

Higeki then remembered Ruby's eyes burning through his Desert Wall, burning the skin off his palms and making him bleed. And most importantly, he remembered how hopeful Ruby was, and how determined she was to fight even when things seemed hopeless.

Slowly, a terrifying rage built up inside Higeki as distant memories from the past ran through his mind. A burning home, a crying child, a hopeless hell of a life. All three Bishops almost fell off the bird in surprise as Higeki let out a scream of rage as he pointed the palm of his hand at the city below. A massive wall of sand appeared above them, slowly taking shape.

"Desert Meteor Shower!" Higeki screamed as the sand formed into multiple large projectiles the size of small meteors, like an actual meteor shower.

As doom slowly fell from the sky, the people of Argus looked up in the sky. Elsewhere, Saffron Cotta-Arc, Jaune Arc's older sister, gazed at the falling death from above in horror, holding her son Adrian, who was crying at the sound of people screaming fright.

The woman had been in a panic when her little brother had not arrived on the Argus Limited. She had been running around, asking if anyone had seen Jaune and his friends, and now, something was coming towards them from the sky. Saffron frantically ran inside the nearest building, protectively covering her son as death from above rained down on the city of Argus.

Kinjo's mouth dropped open in disbelief as Higeki's attack decimated nearly all of Argus in a single blow. Buildings were smashed by the falling sandy meteors. The ground exploded into craters. Even the headquarters that was the pride of Argus was not spared, being shattered by the Desert Meteor Shower.

Momoku was cheering in glee. Kinjo then gazed at Higeki in confusion. "Umm, Cardinal?" He spoke up carefully. "Weren't we going to...leave Argus alone for the time being."

"I said we weren't going to waste time, instead we would go straight to Salem." Higeki said simply. "And I do not waste time."

"And you're right, Momoku," Higeki continued, "there is a chance that the family of one of our foes is in that city...I wonder how that brat with the Silver Eyes will feel if one of her family was utterly wiped from the face of the earth by my power. Perhaps _that_ will be the moment her hope shatters."

Kinjo went pale at Higeki's anger. He was furious. An almost apocalyptic fury in fact. And Ruby Rose was the object of his fury. _You're definitely not going to be brought to Salem alive now, Ruby._ Kinjo shook his head in disbelief. _You're now in Cardinal Higeki's sights...and you're not getting out of them until you're a corpse._

Later, in Salem's domain, an airship landed in front of a cliff. Three individuals exited. A dark-skinned woman with emerald green hair; a grey haired young man with prosthetic feet; and a massively muscular, dark-skinned man.

Tyrian grinned at them all. "And so the failures return...with one failure short." He giggled.

Hazel Rainart, the musclebound giant, simply glared at Tyrian and walked past him, barely acknowledging the insane comrade of his.

Tyrian sighed. "Still, Her Grace is not going to be happy. Cinder may have been a failure, but she was still our Fall Maiden. Her loss sets our plans back."

Emerald Sustrai, the green-haired girl, snapped at the man bad mouthing her mother-figure. Things had been rough for Emerald lately. She spent a few days unconscious after the Battle of Haven. She lost Cinder. And now this nutcase was talking crap about her.

Emerald pointed her blades at Tyrian's face. "Shut your mouth, or I'm going to cut off more than just that tail of yours!" She yelled, referring to when Ruby had cut off Tyrian's tail in a previous encounter.

Tyrian giggled at Emerald's threats before glaring at Emerald. "You should count yourself lucky, little Emerald." He teased. "Our Goddess is in a better mood than she should be thanks to those Otherworlders. I doubt she'll punish you...still, I'd love to punish you in her stead."

Mercury Black, the grey-haired youth, immediately stood between Emerald and Tyrian. "Back off, freak." He threatened.

Tyrian just laughed and relaxed. Mercury led Emerald into Salem's palace, away from the insane scorpion Faunus.

Once inside the palace, Hazel, Emerald and Mercury all knelt in reverence and fear of their leader, Salem. Watts and Tyrian both gazed smugly at the three failures before them. "You can all relax." Salem told them. "My mood has improved...immensely over the past few days thanks to the events after the colossal failure at Haven. This is a happy occasion. Our new allies will bolster our numbers and make up for what happened."

"We are not worthy of such mercy, Your Grace." Hazel said while Emerald and Mercury nodded frantically in agreement.

"No, Hazel, you are not." Salem said in complete agreement. "Which is why I am still curious. How is it that you, one of my finest enforcers, my Fall Maiden, and two promising apprentices of said Fall Maiden failed so miserably?"

Hazel hesitated at this before responding. "The Faunus Militia split our forces, Ma'am." He claimed.

"I see," Salem frowned, "so you're telling me that a ragtag bunch of Faunus were able to ruin everything?"

"Adam Taurus completely forgot his duty to your plans and focused his attention on the Faunus. I fear that his grudge against the Belladonnas, the family that worked to found the White Fang, clouded his judgement. He's a loose canon, Ma'am, and a liability."

Salem frowned slightly. "I see," she said, visibly disappointed at that, "I had such high hopes for young Adam. Well, I still do."

"Still, I can't ignore him putting his desires above mine." She said, turning her attention to Tyrian. "Tyrian, you are to retrieve Adam. When you find him, make sure he understands that his desires can only be found through me."

"Of course, my Goddess." Tyrian giggled, gleeful at the thought of taking his fellow Faunus down a peg.

Salem then turned her attention back to Hazel. "Now, as helpful as that was, Hazel, I think you missed the point of my question. So why don't I rephrase it for you."

Hazel froze at that statement. "...Please do, Madam." He said, not trusting himself to say anything else.

"Who is responsible for your defeat?" Salem asked simply.

All three people kneeling went pale at that statement. They all knew the answer. Cinder Fall. Everything went south because she wanted a chance to kill Ruby Rose for what she did to her at the Fall of Beacon.

Then, much to the surprise of Emerald and Mercury, Hazel rose to his feet and responded. "I take full responsibility." He said.

Salem heaved a sigh. "But that wouldn't be fair, wouldn't it?" She countered.

"I'm...not sure I understand." Hazel said. "Your Grace, I take full responsibility. There is no reason to punish Emerald and Mercury for my-"

"I think you do understand though, Hazel." Salem said calmly. "Now, you can either tell me who was _really_ responsible for the failure at Haven...or I can return to being angry. The choice is yours."

Hazel fell silent at this. Salem sighed. "Noble as always, Hazel. But let's see how the rest of you feel. Emerald?"

Emerald gazed at Salem in fear. "Why don't you tell me who's at fault. I would hate to punish Hazel for something that wasn't at fault. But I will if that's what he really wants. I might even kill him, considering how far our plans could've been set back, were it not for our new allies' arrival into this world."

Hazel's eyes widened. Salem was going to kill him for what happened. Emerald gazed at Hazel in surprise. Could she let him die like that? Hazel was gruff and quiet, but he was also kind to her and Mercury. Then, without thinking, she revealed the truth. "Cinder!" She yelled. "It was Cinder's fault!"

Hazel looked at Emerald, shocked she would admit to the truth so easily. Salem smiled and nodded in satisfaction. "Good, I want you to understand what it means to properly assign blame in failure. The blame will always lie squarely at the feet of those at fault. It's the only way to progress. I want you to understand its importance, and how it feels. Just as I want Cinder to understand it before she's allowed to return into the fold."

Everyone gazed at Salem in surprise now. "Wait, Cinder is alive?" Mercury was surprised.

Salem nodded. "And she will have to stew in her failure, understand why she failed, and learn from those mistakes. It's clear I was far too lenient with her. No more."

"And when that happens...you'll let her come back?" Emerald asked softly.

Salem nodded. "Cinder is still an important part of our plans. She will be allowed back after she learns from her mistakes at Haven. Until then, we must turn our attention elsewhere-"

"Your Grace, there's more." Hazel spoke up once more.

Salem gazed at Hazel. "What more is there?" She asked, not appreciating being interrupted like that.

"The children were not just being helped by Qrow Branwen." Hazel replied. "Ozpin is alive. He's reincarnated inside the body of a child."

Salem's eyes widened. Watts and Tyrian both gasped in shock. "So soon?" Tyrian was stunned.

"He's never reincarnated this quickly before." Watts noted.

Salem took a deep breath, visibly trying to calm herself. A black aura suddenly surrounded her body, much to the concern of her subordinates. "Your Grace?" Tyrian asked carefully.

Then, before Salem could explode in rage, the doors to her meeting room opened once more. Everyone watched as Cardinal Higeki and his Bishop Triad entered. Salem calmed down at the sight of Higeki. Meanwhile, Salem's subordinates all tensed at the sight of the Cultists who had entered Remnant out of nowhere, and had managed to gain an alliance with their leader. Their presence still bothered them immensely.

"Hello again, Salem." Higeki greeted calmly.

Tyrian snarled at Higeki's casual greeting of his goddess. Oh, how he hated the Cardinal for his familiarity with Salem. Salem gave Higeki a satisfied smile. "And hello to you as well, Higeki." Salem greeted. "I see you have returned from your hunt for the Relic of Knowledge. I trust you have it?"

Higeki fell silent at that statement. Momoku, Kinjo and Ubawa all grimaced. "I'm afraid not," Higeki said after a moment of silence, "our mutual foes escaped from us and are currently lost to us, the relic with them."

Salem's inner circle gasped at this. Salem's lips immediately curled into a frown. "What?" She said flatly.

Higeki sighed. "I accept full responsibility for this failure, Salem." He said. "I promised you the relic as a sign of friendship between our two organizations, and I failed to deliver on that promise."

"No!" Momoku yelled, horrified at what Higeki was doing.

"Sir, you don't have to take the fall for us!" Kinjo added. "We screwed up just as badly as you did! If we hadn't toyed with those brats so much, you wouldn't have had to clean up our mess in the first place!"

"Silence, both of you." Higeki ordered. "Just as a warrior does not blame the weapons he was given, a leader does not blame the subordinates he has. I was more than capable of taking the relic myself, and I failed to do so. Therefore, I am the one at fault for this colossal failure."

Salem smiled in satisfaction at Higeki's admittance to his failures. "You see, Emerald, this is how you accept responsibility. A shame Cinder is not here to see this. Our Fall Maiden could learn much from this sight."

Salem then sighed. "Still, I'm very disappointed Higeki." She admitted. "I was truly looking forward to a mutually beneficial partnership, and you've returned to me a failure."

"If I may, speak up in defense of our boss, Ma'am." Kinjo stepped forward. "Those brats proved to be craftier than we expected. If anything, I can definitely see how they've been giving your troops the runaround lately."

"You have no right to insult us when you're the ones who came back failures this time." Watts glared at Kinjo for that statement.

"I don't need you to speak in my defense, Kinjo." Higeki glared sharply at Kinjo.

Kinjo fell silent. Higeki then addressed Salem once more. "What my Bishop is trying to say, Salem, is that we were caught off guard. Not only that, but there was someone else who had thrown a wrench into our attempts."

Salem gazed at Higeki in interest. "Explain," she ordered.

"Opposing Watchers are in Remnant. Travelers if I had to guess." Higeki said. "One of them being an old legend in Menou's army by the name of Sojiro, the Grandmaster who trained many of their top soldiers."

"A surprise player in the game?" Salem smirked in interest. "I see."

"Yeah but that old geezer wasn't the problem. He's still a tough cookie, but he's declined big time in his old age." Kinjo cut in once more, making Higeki glare at the Bishop once more.

"It seems he was the problem though." Emerald pointed out. "Ruby's group shouldn't have been able to stop you four alone."

"Well, it wasn't him." Momoku insisted. "It's like Kin said, Grandmaster Sojiro's gotten old. Cardinal Higeki definitely could've beaten him in a fight!"

Salem sighed. "Then what was the reason if it wasn't this...Grandmaster Sojiro?" She asked.

Higeki narrowed his eyes. "The girl with the Silver Eyes, Ruby Rose. That brat ruined everything." He snarled.

Salem was taken aback by Higeki's anger. He seemed so calm, but the minute Ruby was brought up, his calmness shattered, giving way to rage. She regained her composure and pressed him for information. "And how could she have ruined everything?" She asked curiously. "Ruby is...impressive, from what I've been told about her. But her strength pales in comparison to yours. How could she have stopped you?"

"Her Silver Eyes were triggered. It pushed me back, and gave them the opening they needed to escape into the Void." Higeki revealed, showing Salem his injured but healing palms.

Emerald's eyes widened, remembering what Ruby's eyes had done to Cinder. Salem narrowed her own eyes. "That is not possible." She said. "The Silver Eyes only work on Grimm. It is what makes her a threat in the first place. But they should not have been able to injure you."

"Well they did," Kinjo claimed, "we saw the whole damn thing!"

"Kinjo, another outburst from you, and I will suffocate you with sand!" Higeki yelled, making the Bishop fall dead silent.

Higeki took a deep breath and continued his report for Salem. "I must admit, we too were rather taken aback by this sudden development in the Silver Eyes." Higeki told her. "But I can assure you, everything I've told you is true."

Salem fell silent in contemplation. "This is a...disturbing revelation." She admitted. "If Ruby's eyes have developed to the point where it can harm not just Grimm, but other living things…"

"Then her existence can no longer be tolerated." Higeki said. "I want to make something clear, Salem. The next time any of my comrades come across that girl, she will be killed on sight."

Salem grimaced at that. She had wanted Ruby brought to her alive, but…

"Her Grace wants the little rose brought to her alive." Tyrian growled at Higeki.

"And as her ally, I am altering that order for her own sake." Higeki brushed Tyrian off uncaringly. "I refuse to allow that girl to become any sort of threat to our plans."

"Your Grace!" Tyrian looked at Salem, pleadingly. "Surely you see that this man is no friend of ours! Look at how much he disrespects your will!"

"Silence, Tyrian." Salem commanded. Salem turned her attention back to Higeki. "You're right, this is not something I can ignore. I'm rescinding the capture order on Ruby Rose."

Salem darkly narrowed her eyes. "If any of you come across her, you will rip that so-called 'smaller, more honest soul' to shreds." She ordered her subordinates.

"...As you command, Madam." Watts said obediently while the rest of her inner circle nodded in agreement to her order.

"There's something else we should discuss, Salem." Higeki told her. "You mentioned the Fall Maiden earlier. I was under the impression, from the way your subordinates behaved, that she had lost her life in Haven."

"No, she's alive." Salem replied simply. "I need her to...wallow in her failures alone so that she may learn what happens when you put your desires in front of mine."

"With all due respect, Salem, it seems there is a war coming." Higeki sagely pointed out. "And whatever rightful punishments you wish to deal to your subordinates will have to wait."

Salem narrowed her eyes. "Another order of mine you're altering, Higeki?"

"Only to make sure our forces are stocked at a hundred percent for the upcoming battle." Higeki assured her. "But if you are that concerned with making sure she's learned her lesson, allow us to teach it in your place. Consider it our way of apologizing for failing to gain the relic."

Salem scoffed. "You can't possibly think that would make up for losing the relic."

"Do not underestimate our ability to get people to see things our way, Salem. Once we're done with her, she will never want to go against your will again." Higeki responded. "And while that happens, allow me to do you a second favor as a way to apologize."

"A second favor?"

"A consolation prize if you will," Higeki revealed, "I will begin hunting the remaining Maidens myself. You need their power to open the vaults to the other relics, correct? I alone should be more than enough to bring them to you. I cannot promise they will be unharmed though."

Salem smiled darkly at that statement. "You apologize well, Higeki." She complimented. "But do you really think you can find the three remaining Maidens on your own?"

Higeki gave Salem a completely serious gaze. "All I need to do is scatter my sand into the wind." He revealed. "Once it makes contact with a Maiden's body, I will know just where they are. Never underestimate what the earth can tell you."

Salem let out a dark laugh at that statement, amused with Higeki's declarations. "In failure, you are humble, and yet when offering a different service to me, you have nothing but pride." She said in amusement before addressing her inner circle. "Take note, all of you. This is the kind of behavior I expect from you all."

Higeki turned his attention to the Bishops. "I want you three to go to Mistral, find Cinder Fall and bring her here." He ordered. "Make sure the pride that caused her defeat is shattered."

"Yes sir!" The Bishops said in unison.

"We don't have time to waste though," Higeki continued, "Ubawa, I am leaving the transportation to Haven to you. Can you get them there quickly?"

"We will travel on the air, sir." Ubawa bowed in respect before delivering this promise. "I can get us there within the day."

Watts almost scoffed at such a declaration, but remembered that Higeki had managed to get his subordinates from Atlas to here in time for this meeting. He could not underestimate these monsters and what they were capable of, not any more.

"You are all dismissed." Higeki said to the Triad. "Do not fail me again."

Kinjo, Momoku and Ubawa quickly exited the meeting room. Higeki turned his attention back to Salem. "If you would excuse me as well, Salem," Higeki said to her, "I will be taking my leave as well."

"Beginning the hunt already?" Salem raised a curious eyebrow. "Your diligence is impressive, Higeki."

"No," Higeki shook his head, "first, there is something else that must be done."

"I need to consult the wisdom of my leader, the Archbishop." Higeki revealed. "He must be made aware of the events occurring in Remnant. Furthermore, as one of the Four Cardinals of D, I must remain updated on the goingons in the other three worlds we have entered."

"I'm curious, will you be...introducing me to the Otherworlders I am to ally with soon?" Salem wondered.

"In due time, Salem." Higeki promised her. "Everything will be in place soon enough. All you need to do is wait until I call on you."

"As for the rest of you." Higeki turned his attention to Salem's inner circle. "I can sense your fear of me...your hatred too."

"Allow me to now take this opportunity to respond to those emotions." The ground suddenly cracked at Higeki's feet and the windows shattered. Emerald screamed in fright while Mercury paled with fear, and Tyrian, Hazel and Watts were immediately put on guard.

"Despise me if you wish, your hatred feeds my god. However, I will not have it openly displayed. Do not irritate me with such petty antics." Higeki glared at them all, a dark-red aura appeared around him to intimidate them all. "Never forget that the quickest way to your goals lies not just through Salem, but also through your alliance with us."

And with that, Higeki exited the meeting room, leaving the frightened inner circle, and an amused Salem. "Your Grace, you cannot possibly want to remain allied with these people." Watts gazed at Salem in fright.

"Do not presume to tell me what I want, or what I should do, Arthur." Salem told the disgraced doctor.

"I know that, but these people have their own interests at heart! Their own agenda! Not yours! Hazel, back me up on this!" Watts turned to the muscular man.

Hazel shook his head. "At the moment, the Cult's goals align with ours. That makes them useful allies." He reminded Watts. "And with our recent failures, we are compelled to accept help, so that we do not continue to experience setbacks and further displease Lady Salem."

Watts grimaced at this, frustrated at being humiliated by this force that had gained Salem's favor. He was a genius doctor, damn it! He deserved far better than this. "You are all dismissed." Salem calmly ordered. "And they shall remain our allies. I will have no arguments on that."

"Understood, Your Grace." The inner circle said in unison as they exited the meeting room, one by one.

Now alone, Salem heaved a slightly frustrated sigh, her mind now on the return of her old enemy once again. "Why now?" Salem wondered. "You've never reincarnated this quickly before, Ozma."

Salem's thoughts then turned back to Ruby, remembering the scars on Higeki's palms. "To think that girl's powers could do something like that to Higeki." She mused. "I wonder what caused this evolution. Higeki is right, her existence cannot be tolerated anymore."

"A shame really," she sighed, "poor, little Ruby Rose. The smaller, more honest soul, that will be sent to die like all the rest, like an adorable little lamb to the slaughter. Too bad, I guess the apple really doesn't fall from the tree."

Salem let out a dark chuckle. "Like mother, like daughter."

Now alone, Higeki was free to stroll through the castle on his own, looking for a private place where he may contact his master in peace. Finding a small balcony overlooking pools of black where Grimm emerged, Higeki took the opportunity to inscribe what appeared to be runes in the air before he began to chant.

"Here my words," he said, "I beckon this message to reach across the universe. Hear my voice, no matter where I may be."

Black flames suddenly ignited in front of Higeki, who knelt in reverence as the an image in the flames slowly began to form. Seeing the image taking the shape of a man, Higeki took this as the opportunity to speak. "I bring news from the world of Remnant, some good and some bad." He began.

"I now beseech you to hear my message, O great and mighty Archbishop."

 **A.N: Oh, you thought the Cardinals were the big bads of this story? Ha! Nope, there is one more. The currently unknown Archbishop. Hope everyone enjoyed the chapter. Next time, we end RWBY's portion of the prologue and move on to recruiting another world.**


	6. Chapter 6: Warning For the Universe

**Chapter 6: Warning For The Universe**

The sting of humiliating defeat still burned like the fire she wielded. Her pride had taken a nearly irreparable blow over the past few weeks. And now, here she was, forced into hiding and unable to do anything to improve her situation, other than suck up to that condescending bitch of an information broker, Lil' Miss Malachite.

The clothes she wore and the money she spent nowadays were not her's. They were someone's, but not her's. And it would be what kept her in hiding until she was able to hunt down the object of her hatred. It was clear she was alone in this. Salem knew she was alive, but was not sending anyone to retrieve her. She would not underestimate her master's intelligence. Or was she her former master at this point? No, Salem still needed her for opening the Vault in Beacon. She still needed her.

Either way, Cinder Fall was on her own for the time being. She had come to terms with that, and would have to operate alone for awhile. That was not an issue. She could do that just fine. And, while operating alone, she might have a chance to get back at those brats who ruined her standing. Especially the brat with the Silver Eyes. Ruby Rose had to die for her pride.

With those dark thoughts in mind, Cinder returned to her previous meeting place with Lil' Miss, a seedy tavern filled with the not-so-savory men and women of Mistral. She had been forced to lay low a bit longer, due to the recent announcement of Argus' destruction. She knew that was not Salem's doing. Her master operated in the shadows. She would find out who this new player was later though. Right now, she had to focus on what she wanted.

The Fall Maiden then marched right up to the big woman known as Lil' Miss Malachite and made her demand. "Do you have my information?"

Lil' Miss chuckled at Cinder's impatience. "Of course I do, darling. Lil' Miss always delivers. Although, I can't promise you'll be pleased."

Cinder glared at her. Lil' Miss ignored how angry she looked and continued. "Word is they were seen boarding the Argus Limited a few weeks back. While that isn't exactly far from here, Argus is rarely a destination for folks. And well, it certainly won't be a destination now that it's been completely wiped off the map. But, if they are still alive, chances are they'll be going straight to-"

"Atlas." Cinder finished. "And they are alive. Do you know how hard it is to kill cockroaches, Lil' Miss?"

Lil' Miss chuckled. "Very," she said, "Were I...running a different business, the Roaches might've been a better name."

"There you go, I'm going to Atlas now." Cinder dismissed herself.

Cinder walks away while Lil' Miss smiled at her intuitiveness. However, she was not done with her just yet. "You know, you turned out to be quite the interesting customer... Cinder."

Cinder stopped in her tracks upon hearing her name. She turned around to face Lil' Miss again. "It's not often a single client brings me double the business." Lil' Miss continued, tapping her cigar into an ashtray.

Cinder's attention was suddenly drawn to a creak from the walkway above. She looked up to see who it was. "Wait…" she trailed off in surprise.

A pair of high-heeled boots clicking on the rail. A certain pink umbrella was lowered before its owner placed it behind her head. This owner was a multi-colored girl of pink, brown and white hair, staring down at Cinder from her position.

"Neo?" Cinder could not believe what she was seeing. Roman Torchwick's former partner, alive and well.

Lil' Miss chuckled and turned to her henchwoman. "Maybe put away the good glasses."

Neo jumped down and landed a strike on Cinder, only for her form to suddenly shatter. Neo then reappeared from another direction and knocked Cinder back.

"What are you doing?!" Cinder demanded

Neo proceeded forward and continued to land blows that pushed Cinder back to Lil' Miss' table. Lil' Miss stopped the ashtray from falling off the shaking table and held her hand, as if to tell her two bodyguards not to intervene. Cinder pushed off of Lil' Miss' table and began to fight back, using hand-to-hand combat to counter Neo's strikes. She then kicked Neo upwards, with the girl landing gracefully on the bar counter. Cinder quickly followed.

The two resumed their clash on the bar counter. Neo knocked some bowls into Cinder to stun her before the latter threw the umbrella wielder off the counter. Neo landed gracefully back on the ground. The two continued trading blows until Cinder was launched towards the ceiling from Neo's umbrella. She pushed off of it and Neo barely dodged the flaming fist that shatters the table below her. Cinder then jumped up to the balcony railing and looked down on Neo.

Before the two could resume their dual, however, the doors to the tavern were suddenly opened. Even Lil' Miss was caught off guard by this act. She had not been expecting more company. "Boss," her henchwoman warned her.

Lil' Miss silenced her, wondering how this was going to proceed. Neo and Cinder stared at the three new arrivals. Neo was confused as to who they are and what their attire were, but Cinder was immediately put on guard. All three men in black had some sort of...unnatural power. And it put her at tremendous unease, similar to the moment when she first met Salem.

 _What is this pressure?_ She wondered. _Is this...their power?_

"Nice place," Bishop Kinjo grinned, "hey Uba, do we have time to get a drink?"

"No," Bishop Ubawa replied, all business as usual, "we will be leaving with a far greater prize."

Momoku giggled, pointing at Cinder. "Found her, found her." He said giddily.

Cinder tensed at this. Why were they after her? Did Lil' Miss sell her out? Did Atlas find her? Mistral? Vale? Vacuo? The woman quickly regained her composure and glowered at the trio. "I don't know what you three want with me, but I have business to attend to. So you will either let me pass, or I will have to go through you."

"Damn," Kinjo chuckled, "she does need a lesson in humility if that's her the first thing she says when meeting new people."

Neo noticed that Cinder was distracted and leapt towards her. "Momoku, Kinjo." Ubawa ordered them.

Cinder managed to catch Neo's sneak attack and summoned a blade in defense. However, before either woman could make a move, they suddenly found themselves frozen in place by blades held up to their throats, one a large zanbato, and the other an invisible blade.

Neo's mouth was open in fear as Momoku pinned her on her stomach, pointing an invisible sword at her throat. Cinder, meanwhile, gazed at the wielder of the zanbato. Kinjo was casually sitting on the railing, holding his blade out in front of her.

"Please don't do that." Kinjo said to her. "I love it when things get messy, but this ain't supposed to be one of those times."

Cinder gazed back to where Ubawa was, noting that was where they had been a split second ago. _That's not possible._ She thought to herself. _How did they get over here so fast._

Lil' Miss was now on guard. However, she managed to keep her composure and stared at Ubawa. "And who might you...fine gentlemen be?" She asked curiously.

"Holy men that have business with your client." Ubawa bowed to Lil' Miss. "As requested by our superiors, she will now be taken into our custody."

"Your custody?" Cinder sneered. "And what if I refuse?"

Cinder was suddenly lifted into the air by a solid air bubble. "Well, for one thing, that happens." Kinjo snarked.

The bubble was moved behind Ubawa. Cinder then roared in anger as she shattered the bubble with a fireball. "Do that to me again and you die." Cinder vowed.

"Such unbelievable pride." Ubawa looked over his shoulder, barely acknowledging her. "What you have is a sickness. Consider this your cure."

"Aerial Cannon." Cinder suddenly let out a loud grunt in pain as something slammed into her stomach, sending her flying out of the tavern.

Now, Lil' Miss was gazing at these new arrivals in fear. That was a level of power she had never seen anyone display before. "What do you think, boys?" Ubawa asked. "Do you think we've thoroughly shattered her pride?"

"If she's still cocky enough to have an attitude," Kinjo leapt from the railing, "then I don't know how salvageable she actually is."

"If she still has her pride, I will keep breaking her." Ubawa said resolutely. "We were ordered to bring her back broken and obedient. Completing this mission is the least we can do for our failures earlier. Now, come, let's make sure I didn't accidentally kill her."

Ubawa exited the tavern. Momoku and Kinjo were about to follow before Momoku was stopped by Neo tugging on his shirt. "Huh? And who are you?" Momoku inquired curiously.

Neo pouted and pointed at her mouth. "Huh, mute huh?" Momoku frowned. "Aww, talk about bad luck."

Neo nodded and pointed to her hair, then to herself. "Hmm, brown, pink and white hair...and you pointed to yourself. Is your name Neapolitan? Like the ice cream?"

Neo shook her head but held her thumb and pointer finger close together, indicating that he was close. "Hmm, then is it Neo?" Momoku guessed.

Neo applauded Momoku's perceptiveness, much to Kinjo's utter disbelief. "Hold on, you can understand mute people?" He said in shock. "Since when was that a thing?"

Neo then spelled out her name by using her umbrella to write on the air. "Yep, your name is Neo." Momoku grinned. "And I see you wanted to make me figuring out your name fun, with a game of charades, huh? I like that!"

Neo smiled and applauded Momoku's appreciation for her choice. Kinjo sweat-dropped, unable to believe what was happening in front of him. Neo then pointed to herself and then to Momoku. "Huh, you want to come with us?" Momoku asked curiously.

Neo nodded and then mimed fire blowing up and crossed her hands in an 'x' and pouted. "You don't like Cinder." Momoku noted, making Neo nod again.

Neo then pointed to Momoku and Kinjo, shadow boxed for a brief moment, and then smiled brightly. "But you like us because we beat her up." Momoku translated, making Neo smile again and nod. "Well, I won't argue with that logic. Sure, you can come with us. I'm sure our bosses won't object to having more manpower."

Kinjo face-palmed. "We've got a blind guy and a mute girl on our team. Now all we need is a deaf person to complete the trifecta." He muttered, shocked at this sudden turn of events.

"Okay, Kin, we've got a new teammate!" Momoku cheered as him and Neo exited the tavern.

"Go team, rah rah," Kinjo muttered sarcastically, "didn't know our flock was turning into a haven for disabled sheep. Still, she seemed pretty tough to put Cinder on the defensive like that. Maybe this won't be all bad."

Kinjo then exited the tavern as well, leaving the stunned Lil' Miss Malachite, and her organization, The Spiders. "Umm, Ma'am?" Lil' Miss' henchwoman spoke up nervously.

"I know, just be quiet and let me think." Lil' Miss finally got over her shock and fear and carefully thought over her next move.

When Kinjo, Momoku and Neo arrived outside, they noticed that Ubawa had silently but mercilessly massacred an entire crowd. Multiple bodies without heads were now strewn about. Their heads had all rolled elsewhere. "That's one way to do crowd control." Kinjo joked while Neo stared at the massacre in surprise.

"They were noisy...and annoying." Ubawa replied before turning his attention to Cinder, who was sprawled out in some rubble due to smashing into a stone wall.

"Who are you people?" Cinder weakly demanded.

"Who we are is not important. The only thing you need to know is that we have come on behalf of Salem to...humble you, Cinder Fall." Ubawa told her.

Cinder gazed up at Ubawa. "Humble...me?"

"You pissed off your boss big time, Cinder." Kinjo explained. "She knows you screwed the pooch with the attack on Haven."

"She had every intention of allowing you to remain alone to stew in your failures until you accepted responsibility, but times have changed." Ubawa explained. "There is a war coming, and we need all the manpower we can get."

"A...war?" Cinder repeated in confusion.

"The issue, however, is that someone with your hubris cannot be allowed to simply return to the fold, which is why we have taken charge of the matter as a favor to Salem." Ubawa continued. "You will be reborn through our efforts, Cinder Fall, whether you like it or not."

"Now, Zero Air." Cinder could only gasp for air that did not exist as she writhed about, trapped in an oxygenless field, courtesy of Ubawa.

"Yeesh, I feel like I'm standing in one of our torture dungeons." Kinjo noted.

Neo was giddily jumping up and down, clearly enjoying Cinder's pain. When Ubawa noticed that she was beginning to turn blue, he cancelled his Zero Air, allowing Cinder to gasp and breath again.

Ubawa then knelt down and forced Cinder to look him in his blind eyes. "Now, do we have an understanding?" Ubawa demanded.

Cinder briefly gazed up at Ubawa in fear before glowering at him without thinking. "Pride is such a difficult thing to cure." Ubawa sadly mused. "Zero Air."

And with that, Cinder was left gasping for air again, making Kinjo chuckle cruelly. "We can do this all day." Kinjo told her. "We've got all the time in the world, sweetheart. The important thing is that _you don't_."

Momoku and Neo both leapt up and down with glee, happy at the sight of Cinder going through such torture. Cinder was still unable to comprehend what was happening to her. Who were these people? Were they really working with Salem? Why were they doing this to her?

Cinder could only continue gasping for air, desperately trying to suck in oxygen that she would not receive. Kinjo gazed at the pained look on her face and gave Ubawa a nod. Ubawa nodded back and let up on Zero Air. Cinder gasped for air again. Ubawa knelt down and gave Cinder a somewhat sympathetic gaze.

"I was like you, once upon a time." Ubawa admitted. "I believed I was destined for greatness. To stand above all others."

"However," Ubawa continued, removing his sunglasses and revealed the horrifying sight of a long scar that covered his eyes, "that arrogance cost me my eyes. It was a judgement made by the one who leads us. If I could not see past my own selfishness, I did not deserve to see at all. So I was blinded. But, I had my eyes opened instead. I devoted myself to my faith in its entirety afterwards."

"You and I...we're quite similar you and I. Your arrogance, your short sightedness, your actions caused your master...your goddess...pain and suffering. I was lucky, blessed even. I managed to avoid causing pain to my superiors. I was stopped before I managed to commit an unforgivable sin that my god could never forgive. But you...by all accounts, you should be killed for this transgression."

Cinder gazed up at Ubawa with an emotion she had honestly forgotten: fear. She was frightened of these people, all of them.

"However, your power is still useful to your goddess, Cinder Fall." Ubawa pointed out. "You have a unique opportunity to repent for your sins. I suggest you take it. You can return to her good graces. But you simply need to repent. Zero Air."

And with that, Cinder found herself gasping for air again. Kinjo grimaced. "Sheesh, I should've figured you'd be too close to this kinda mission." He muttered, referring to Ubawa.

Ubawa watched Cinder writhe on the floor for a while before finally letting up. Cinder gasped for air once more. "What are you people?" Cinder demanded.

"Watchers," Ubawa replied, "beings from a vastly different world. Believe me or not, but I'm afraid you are nothing to us, Fall Maiden or not. As strong as you are, you cannot hope to fight any of us. Consider this your only warning: Do not try and resist us. There are many others whom are my equal in strength, including Momoku and Kinjo here. If you continue down this path, you will meet a tragic end."

"It doesn't have to end this way. All you have to do is simply bow your head and swear your fealty once again to Salem." Ubawa told her.

Cinder gritted her teeth. She desperately wanted to tell these men to go to hell. However, for the first time in her life, her self-preservation kicked in.

"I swear." She said softly.

And at that moment, her pride fully shattered, as her weakness overshadowed her pride. Cinder almost wanted to cry in shame at her own weakness. But now, there was no going back, no taking back what she just said.

Cinder was broken.

Kinjo took one look at the girl and nodded in satisfaction. "Mission accomplished." He said simply. "Okay, Little Miss Fall Maiden, you're coming with us now."

Cinder nodded wordlessly and rose to her feet, a broken woman now. "By the way, Ubawa." Kinjo addressed the blind man. "What do you wanna do with those guys in that shady-ass bar?"

Ubawa responded by creating a sphere of air that floated inside of the bar. "They are no use to us." He said simply

Meanwhile, Lil' Miss and her men gazed at the sphere of air in confusion. "The hell is that thing?" Lil' Miss demanded.

The Bishop Triad of Despair and their two new additions casually strode past the bar. Then, Ubawa spoke out a single command. "Aerial Detonation." He said as the bar suddenly exploded.

Cinder's eyes widened in disbelief at how easily and casually Ubawa blew up that bar. _Just what has happened while I was gone?_ She could only wonder, still not fully comprehending how her organization had suddenly grown in strength.

"Now then, let us return to your headquarters." Ubawa said as a crowd gathered the destroyed bar, not seeing that the perpetrators were leaving.

Meanwhile, another's pride was being shattered. Tyrian Callows cackled madly as he lifted a masked bull Faunus by the neck with a scorpion tail. The scorpion Faunus had marched right into the White Fang's headquarters, found the bull in the midst of slaughtering his fellow Faunus, and decided to get in on the action.

"You caused my goddess a lot of pain, Adam Taurus." Tyrian gazed at the former high leader of the White Fang with a mad smile.

Adam glared at Tyrian from behind his mask. "You, you're with Salem, like Hazel." He snarled. "I should kill you where you stand. Your people...the Belladonnas...Blake...you all stole everything from me!"

"We stole nothing from you." Tyrian growled. "Your arrogance caused your failures at Haven. Don't think me apathetic and ignorant of the actions my comrades take. After all, their actions affect Her Grace."

"If you had simply negotiated with Sienna Khan, perhaps the Faunus at Menagerie wouldn't have united against you. I'm sorry to say, but she's far more...likable than a raging bull like you."

"Shut up!" Adam yelled. "I am the Faunus' deliverer! I am their savior!"

Tyrian responded by casually tossing Adam into the nearest wall, behind his former throne. Adam gasped in pain as the wall cracked behind him. The bull Faunus slumped to the ground. "The only deliverer your people need is Salem herself." Tyrian insisted. "It's time you grow up, little calf. Your desires, your goals, it can only be found through Salem."

Tyrian then heard the sounds of footsteps behind him. He was immediately on guard. "Can only be found through Salem, you say?" A voice spoke up. "If this woman is as great as you claim...would we not have heard of her?"

"And out of curiosity." Four figures stepped into the throne room. "Does the path to young Adam's desires include murdering his own brethren?"

Adam was stunned at the new arrivals. "The Royal Four?" He muttered in disbelief.

The Royal Four, the four highest ranked members of the White Fang behind the High Leader. Typically, they lead each branch across Remnant. They were four particularly powerful Faunus, recruited to add more power to the White Fang, thanks to Sienna Khan's desires to take the White Fang in a more violent direction. "What are you four doing here?" Adam demanded.

An effeminate looking Faunus with long, crimson red hair, a red yukata, a katana strapped to his hip, and feathers adorning his arms, making them appear like wings, chuckled. "Well, I was personally curious as to what my former student had done to the White Fang after he murdered poor, poor Sienna." Said Suzaku Tancho, the former leader of the Vale Branch, who had been operating in Mantle under the previous High Leader's orders, trying to establish a Mantle Branch. "And what do we find? You've forgotten your own people and instead seem to be focused entirely on Ghira's brat. Honestly, it's like you're a completely different guy."

Adam glared at his former mentor. Suzaku heaved a sigh. "Now, now don't give me such a nasty look, Adam." Suzaku said to him. "You've brought this on yourself. I tried my best to make you into a leader the Faunus needed but instead you turned into this."

A pale, muscular man with what appeared to be black ears and black stripes adorning his face like war paint, gazed at Suzaku, as though he were surprised with how casually the bird Faunus was addressing Adam. "Suzaku," Bai Hu Kungming, the former leader of the Vacuo Branch, addressed his comrade with a hint of disdain, "why do you address him so calmly. He murdered Sienna."

"And Sienna should've known that encouraging Adam's baser instincts would eventually cause her death." Suzaku brushed the matter off. "Do not misunderstand me, Bai Hu, I'm grateful for Sienna giving us our positions as the Royal Four. However, what killed her was her inability to see past her own ambitions, and not the ambitions of those around her."

Bai Hu fell silent at this. A hulking behemoth that simply wore a pair of black pants and had his entire upper body covered by what appeared to be a tortoise's shell, simply remained silent. Indeed, Aesop Mavros, the former leader of the Atlas Branch, the famed Black Warrior of the White Fang, had very little to say.

"We are getting off topic," at that moment, the leader, a man dressed in regal blue robes like an emperor, and bandages adorning his arms and hands, stepped forward. His dark, shoulder-length hair swayed behind him. A lizard-like tongue briefly appeared before vanishing in his maw, "we're quite disappointed in your actions, Adam."

"And where were you when I needed you, leader of the Mistral Branch?" Adam yelled. "Tell me, Gaozu Shenlong!"

Gaozu, the leader of the Four Royals, chuckled in amusement. "I was where my previous High Leader asked of me." Gaozu replied in a teasing tone. "If you wanted my help that badly, Adam, then perhaps you should've proven to me you were worthy of taking the position from Sienna, before you took it from her."

"I killed Sienna!" Adam reminded Gaozu.

"Indeed you did, but can you honestly say that you were worthy of the position after you took it? Why do you think that none of us made such a move?"

"Because you're weak! You lack ambition!" Adam declared.

No sooner had Adam said that, All four of the Four Royals were upon him, pinning him to the ground. "Because Sienna, weak or not, could command respect. She had a goal that she worked towards. We all respected that." Gaozu explained.

Tyrian was stunned into silence. He could not believe how fast the Four Royals had moved. He was briefly on guard at this display of speed. _The rumors were true._ He realized. _The White Fang's ultimate weapons. Suzaku Tancho, the man who was stirring hatred and unrest in Mantle. Bai Hu Kungming, the Desert Tiger of Vacuo. Aesop Mavros, one of Atlas's most wanted criminals. And Gaozu Shenlong, the most dangerous of them all, Sienna Khan's attack dog in Mistral and the reason she held onto the position of High Leader for so long._

Tyrian then remembered his mission and giggled, getting the attention of the Four Royals. "Hey now," he said, "it looks like we're all here for the same reason. Because we all want to punish Adam here for his stupidity."

"But you know," Tyrian then came up with a wicked idea, "I just had a thought. It looks like you four are leaderless. Dogs like you need someone new to hold the least, right?"

Bai Hu scowled. "And I suppose you want whoever this Salem is to be the one to hold the leash?"

Tyrian giggled. "Well, I certainly think it's a match made in Hell." He admitted. "Why don't you four come with me? I need to bring Adam alive anyway. Perhaps Her Ladyship can offer the four of you a new purpose, now that the White Fang has been disbanded. And honestly, we've got one hell of an undertaking now thanks to some new..."

Tyrian trailed off, thinking about those damn cultists. "...Allies." He muttered distastefully.

The Four Royals looked at each other briefly before Gaozu smirked, speaking on behalf of them all. "Well, I'd say you've got our attention, Brother." Gaozu noted, referring to Tyrian as 'Brother' due to his Faunus heritage. "Why don't you take us to this Salem you worship so?"

Tyrian smirked. "It would be my pleasure." He chuckled.

While those who operated in the dark began to make their move, the ones who operated in the light were doing the same. Grandmaster Sojiro stood in front of Qrow Branwen, Oscar Pine, and his fellow Traveler, Shogo. Sojiro seemed to be gazing at Shogo in particular. "Now, you three know your assignment, yes?"

Shogo puffed his chest out. "Escort young Oscar with the heroic champion of justice, the Drunken Crow, to Atlas Kingdom! Seek an audience with the one called General Ironwood! And gain his allegiance to our grand cause!"

Qrow gazed at Shogo. "...Did you just call me that like it was a superhero name?" He muttered.

Oscar, now back in control of his body, chuckled. "It's nice to see everyone's kinda calmed down after how tense things were yesterday." He noted.

Sojiro nodded in agreement. "You three were selected for this mission because you were the best for the job. Qrow and Ozpin both know this General Ironwood, and Shogo is the only fighter beside myself with numerous experiences in fighting Watchers like those cultists."

All three men nodded. "We've got a few options." Qrow spoke up. "Either we get passage through Argus, or I call James myself."

Qrow heaved a sigh. "But I've gotta level with you, Old Man. James is crappy with communication, especially now. It's like the guy shut himself off from the rest of the world when he blockaded Atlas."

Oscar's eyes and demeanor changed. "If I may," Ozpin suggested, "perhaps you should let me contact James?"

Qrow looked at Ozpin in surprise. "You told me after you rested up, you weren't sure how helpful that would be." He reminded Ozpin.

"I know what I said," Ozpin nodded, sounding ashamed of himself, "but I was...not thinking straight, after what happened with Leo."

Qrow's face fell at that. "But now, I'm more focused than I've ever been." Ozpin continued. "Qrow, I want you to keep trying to reach out to James, and when you do, let me do the talking. I can get James to listen."

"You do know you'll be speaking from Oscar's body, right?" Qrow reminded him.

"Like I said, I can get him to listen." Ozpin insisted. "Once James hears certain things that only I would know and say, he'll listen to reason."

Sojiro nodded. "Either method is valid. However, this is a goal we must succeed in. The people of Remnant need to know what they're up against. They'll be killed if they're just shutting themselves off like Atlas is. It'd be like shooting fish in a barrel."

Sojiro stepped past the trio, preparing to open the path once more. "I can only drop you three off where we left originally, unfortunately. Our transportation methods aren't perfect."

"It's enough." Ozpin assured Sojiro.

"Grandmaster!" A youthful voice called out.

Sojiro's face contorted into a look of concern, turning around to see Jaune Arc frantically running towards him. He had a look of terror and grief on his face. "Jaune, what's wrong, boy?" Sojiro asked in concern.

Jaune held up his scroll. "I just got a call from my sister. She sounded so scared. She kept asking me where I was and if I was alright and…"

"Jaune, what's wrong?" Sojiro asked again.

"Sir, Argus has been destroyed." Jaune grimly revealed, close to tears at how close his sister was to dying. "Sand just...dropped from the sky like meteors and wrecked the place."

"Oh Gods," Ozpin muttered, going pale with terror, "did that Cardinal destroy Argus because he knew it was our destination."

"It was a message," Sojiro nodded grimly, managing to keep his focus in the face of this horrid news.

"Guess the bastard didn't take us running off too well." Qrow growled.

"Wait," everyone turned to see Ruby Rose entering the conversation now, "is that true? Did they really destroy Argus?"

Sojiro sighed and nodded. "It would appear so."

Jaune took a deep breath. "I got a call from Sis-I was shocked to get a call, honestly, I didn't think this place would have reception-and she was just…"

"It's alright Jaune, you don't have to continue." Sojiro gently told him. "The important thing is, your sister is alive."

"I wish I could say that about everyone else." Jaune noted. "Sis was giving me an update on the casualties. It's bad, Sir. That one attack, it…"

"I know," Sojiro patted him on the shoulder to reassure him, "unfortunately, this will be the norm until we stop those monsters."

"Then they really do intend to kill everyone." Ruby muttered in disbelief. "How could they do something like that so easily?"

"Because some people are just sick in the head." Sojiro sighed. "There are good people and bad people in the world, Ruby. The ones who commit horrible acts like these, and the ones who stop them."

"Grandmaster," Jaune spoke up, "let me accompany Professor Ozpin and the others. I need to check on my sister and her family, I…"

Sojiro smiled. "Say no more, Jaune." He said. "Oz, Qrow, you don't mind if he tags along?"

Qrow gave Jaune a sympathetic gaze. "Of course not," he said, "if it were Tai or my nieces, I'd be running to where they were too. Don't worry about it, kid. Come with us, and make sure your family's okay."

Jaune nodded and ran to their side. "Shogo," Sojiro addressed his subordinate, "I leave the rest to you."

"You can count on me, Grandmaster!" Shogo declared, surprisingly all business now.

Sojiro quickly ran through the chant and the pathway back to Remnant opened up. The quartet quickly passed through and were soon out of sight. Sojiro heaved a sigh when they were all gone. "What's wrong?" Ruby asked curiously.

"I didn't want to say this to them, but I fear that now may be a great time to reach out to General Ironwood through those scrolls of yours." Sojiro admitted grimly. "It's tragic, but oftentimes, what it takes to get someone to listen, are tragedies like what has happened to Argus."

Ruby's face fell at that statement. "Why do you think that is?" She asked.

"Sadly, people, no matter where they're from, share a tragic flaw. Nobody wants to acknowledge a problem until it's at their doorstep." Sojiro explained. "I don't blame them. People want to live peacefully. They can't do that if they're constantly fearing the next war."

"But unfortunately, the side effect is that when there really is an enemy, nobody takes it seriously until it's too late."

"I see," Ruby said softly.

Sojiro then gave Ruby a reassuring smile. "However, at the same time, people also share the ability to rise up and respond to those foes." He pointed out. "It is why the people of the universe still live and breath. No matter how many lives are lost, life still endures."

Ruby smiled back and nodded in agreement. "You're right!" She declared. "We're gonna get through this!"

Sojiro chuckled and patted Ruby on the head. "What about you?" Sojiro asked curiously. "Shouldn't you be starting your training with Maria?"

"Yeah," Ruby nodded, "I just wanted to see Uncle Qrow, Professor Ozpin, and Shogo off."

"I take it that means you're ready, now that you have, dear?" Maria Calavera stepped into view. "I'm old you know, I don't have eternity."

Ruby waved happily. "You bet!" She said. "See ya later, Mr. Sojiro!"

And with that, Ruby ran off to train with Maria. Sojiro chuckled, feeling a hundred years younger thanks to the girl's energy and enthusiasm. When Ruby was out of view, Sojiro was drawn to the sound of a girl clearing her throat. He turned to see a surprisingly nervous Yang Xiao Long approaching him.

Seeing her nerves, Sojiro flashed his usual grandfatherly smile to try and put her at ease. "Hello, Yang." He said pleasantly. "What can I do for you?"

"Hey Old Man...er...Grandmaster." Yang was still struggling to address him properly, now that her irritation of him was completely gone. "You're some big time teacher who loves mentoring people when they've got issues, right? Can we talk?"

Sojiro nodded and directed Yang to two nearby chairs. "Sit down, Yang, I always have time to talk to someone in need of guidance. That's what it means to be a teacher, does it not?"

Yang could not help but chuckle. "I've had some whacky teachers over the years that might not fit your definition." She joked.

Sojiro chuckled back and the two took a seat. "I'm still trying to comprehend how comfy these things are." She muttered, referring to the Traveler's base in its entirety.

"This place responds to the needs of the residents." Sojiro explained. "That might explain how Jaune was able to get service on his scroll."

"So, Yang," Sojiro got back on topic, "what would you like to talk about?"

Yang blushed in embarrassment. "I'm sorry." She muttered.

"For what?" Sojiro gazed at Yang in confusion.

"I treated you like you were the enemy, when all this time you were trying to help us. And I'm sorry about that." Yang said. "Between Ruby and me, I'm supposed to be the mature one, and she had you pegged quicker than I did."

Sojiro smiled reassuringly at Yang. "Yang, you children have had a rough time lately. I can't in good conscience hold a grudge against someone who was just lashing out in response to how bad things around her are."

Yang smiled. "Honestly, it's almost unfair how much of a nice old man you are." She noted.

Yang took a deep breath before continuing. "Also, I want to thank you." She said. "The things you said back then, it wasn't what I, or anyone else here, _wanted_ to hear. But I think it was what we _needed_ to hear. What you said, about Professor Ozpin and Salem, put things in perspective, and now...I think I've never had a clearer head before."

Sojiro nodded in understanding. "You're young, Yang. Making mistakes like that is to be expected. I'm just glad it's all settled."

Yang chuckled bitterly. "You'd think I'd have learned by now."

"And what do you mean by that?"

Yang sighed and held her prosthetic arm out in front of her. "You think this is the only mistake I've made? You think freaking out at Professor Ozpin was the only time I've royally screwed up? Honestly, by now I should know better. I don't really have a moral high ground to stand on."

"What do you mean?" Sojiro asked curiously.

Yang took a deep breath. "Ruby and I are half-sisters." She began. "I...guess that should be kinda obvious by now. My...mother, Raven Branwen, she skipped out on my dad and me before I even knew she existed. So, Ruby's mom, Summer Rose, raised me as her daughter."

Yang laughed bitterly. "You'd think that would've been enough. Why would I want anything to do with a woman who left us? Even if she had always kept an eye out in her own way…"

Yang trailed off. "There's just no excuse for it." She muttered to herself. "She may have been my mother. But Summer's the only one I'll ever call 'mommy.' I guess I just needed to meet Raven to realize that myself."

Sojiro remained silent, allowing Yang to sort through things on her own. "Anyway, Summer...Mom...she was supermom. Baking cookies one day, fighting monsters another. Then one day, she went out on a mission...and never came back. You do the math."

Sojiro nodded in understanding. "Dad kinda broke after that, and I ended up finding out that Raven was my mom by birth. I was so confused. I wanted so badly to find out why she left us. So I did the dumbest thing possible. I took little baby Ruby and left the house to try and find her."

Sojiro's eyes widened. "I think you can guess how that went." Yang bitterly noted. "We were surrounded by Grimm within minutes. A sleeping infant and a stupid toddler, up on a silver platter for those things. We'd have been dead had it not been for Uncle Qrow."

Sojiro continued to offer his silence to Yang, allowing her to speak her mind. "I'm such an idiot." Yang sighed. "I got pissed at Ozpin for all his mistakes. I got pissed at him for hiding so many secrets. And me...I'm no better. I really haven't changed from the idiot who almost got her infant sister killed to find a mom who skipped out on us, who frankly wasn't worth the effort. I'm still the idiot who got her arm chopped off by a nutcase with a katana too."

"Personally, I disagree." Sojiro finally spoke up. "The fact that you're taking the time to reflect on these mistakes so that you can improve on them...you're not as bad as you think you are, Yang."

Yang looked at Sojiro. "Mistakes exist so that we may learn from them." Sojiro explained. "It is also why people have the capacity to live long, happy lives. So they can make mistakes and learn from them, to become better versions of themselves."

"You think so, huh?" Yang muttered before sighing. "Honestly, I think I'm also scared of making another mistake."

"And that's going to happen. The key is to learn from them and try again." Sojiro told her.

Yang blushed in embarrassment. "I'm scared I'm going to make a mistake _right now_." She admitted.

"What kind?"

Yang paused for a moment before deciding to open up to Sojiro further. "My best friend, Blake, we were partners at Beacon, like Ruby and Weiss were. I thought she'd always have my back" Yang explained. "But...when I lost my arm...Blake just ran off."

"Why?" Sojiro inquired curiously.

Yang sighed. "Because...she's a coward, who doesn't know how to face her problems." Yang bitterly admitted. "And she was so ashamed that I lost my arm trying to save her...she just bolted without an explanation."

"I see, and you think it's a mistake to call her out on this?" Sojiro inquired curiously.

"I don't know," Yang admitted, "a part of me wishes I could just move on and pretend it never happened. She's still my best friend. But...she abandoned all her friends when they needed her. Honestly, I always looked at Blake as the most level headed of us back at Beacon, but now…"

"I see, you're worried if you'll ever be able to trust her again." Sojiro noted. "And that hurts because you still consider her a friend. You're wondering if that's the mistake you're about to make."

Yang nodded. "We're about to go to war, Grandmaster." Yang reminded him. "My baby sister is about to walk into a war. How am I supposed to trust someone like Blake, best friend or not, when her running away could get someone killed this time? Trusting Professor Ozpin again is one thing. He still wants to fight because he feels compelled to. But Blake...I just don't know."

"An understandable concern, and you're right to bring this to attention. Have you mentioned this to Blake?"

"I don't know how to approach her." Yang admitted. "How can I, when I don't even know if I'm right to be concerned about this?"

"You are though, Yang, it's not a sin to call out your friends for their flaws." Sojiro promised before smiling. "Do you know what used to drive me crazy about my best friend, Kaishi? He was way too trusting of others."

"It was his greatest weakness, but also his greatest strength." Sojiro explained. "Honestly though, if I hadn't kept him grounded, Kaishi would have been stabbed in the back a hundred times and that drove me crazy."

"But is it a mistake thought to not immediately forgive her?" Yang asked.

Sojiro shook his head. "Blake cannot hope to improve if her issues aren't treated like issues." Sojiro told her. "A big part of forgiveness is helping someone through what caused the problem in the first place."

"I do want to forgive her." Yang admitted. "But...I just can't right now."

"Nor should you. You trusted her, and she betrayed that trust." Sojiro told Yang. "But as her friend, you must now be willing to help rebuild that trust, especially if she desires reconciliation as well. I'm not saying pretend it never happened. Instead, bring the issues to her attention, and then help her work through them."

"I see," Yang muttered.

"Never feel like you have to ignore Blake's problems, Yang. If you do, you're doing a disservice to her as a friend." Sojiro promised. "How you're feeling, and how you want to proceed. That is not a mistake."

Yang could not help but smile. A weight was lifted from her shoulders. "Thanks a lot, Grandmaster." She said. "You...weirdly seem to have all the answers."

"Only because I've had a long life to learn from many mistakes." Sojiro explained before coming to one final decision in this conversation, to help put things in better perspective.

"Yang, would you like to know what one of my greatest mistakes was?"

"You...don't have to tell me if you don't want to." Yang promised.

"You were vulnerable with me, it's only fair now that I now do the same for you." Sojiro explained before taking a deep breath. "When I began teaching as the Grandmaster of the Royal Army, I foolishly grew complacent. I thought, as long as Kaishi was emperor, everything would be fine. As long as people followed the emperor's heart closely, everything would be fine."

"What happened?" Yang asked curiously.

"There was a student of mine. Bright kid, strong too. Had a great future ahead of him. He had a strong body and a strong mind. What I failed to realize, however, was that his heart was weak, in the sense that he had no taste for combat. However, his family was a family of soldiers. His parents had pushed him into serving the kingdom."

"What happened to the student?" Yang did not like where this was going.

Sojiro's face fell, showing his age. "He hung himself in his dorm." He said grimly, watching Yang's face go pale in fright. "The poor boy just cracked under the pressure. He could not bring himself to fight, but he could not bring himself to disappoint his family as well. So, he took a third option and…"

"How was that your mistake though?" Yang asked, horrified.

"I was the boy's instructor, I should've noticed his problem's sooner. I had thought that as long as the people had Kaishi to look up to as an example, everything would be fine. Gods, I was so wrong. It may have been selfish, to do something like that, and deny those around him the wonderfulness that was his own life, but as his teacher, I should've been there for him to make that clearer."

"I promised myself, from that day forward, that I would not just devote myself to training the bodies and minds of my students, but also their hearts. I would strive to involve myself in their lives as much as I could, to make sure something like that never happened again."

 _That was my greatest mistake as a teacher._ Sojiro remembered. _As a man though…_

The old Watcher found his mind wandering, remembering two twins, torn apart by a growing hatred for one another. If only he had noticed it sooner. "Why did you tell me this?" Yang asked softly, cutting the old man from his thoughts.

"To prove a point, Yang." Sojiro told her. "We cannot progress without learning from our mistakes and flaws. That's why you need to keep moving forward, and that's why you need to proceed with Blake the way I suggested."

Yang thought over Sojiro's final lesson and nodded with a smile. "Thanks, Grandmaster." She said. "I...think I really needed to hear that."

"For whatever it's worth, Yang, I do hope you and Blake are able to call each other friends when you get through this rough patch."

"Me too," Yang admitted.

"And I'm sure you will," Sojiro promised, "if someone is a true friend, you'd be surprised at how cooperative they are in trying to work through rough spots like these."

Yang nodded, satisfied with Sojiro's response and advice. "Will that be all, Yang?" Sojiro inquired. "I'm still willing to talk if you are."

"Nah, that's everything." Yang smiled. "Thanks again, Grandmaster. You're a damn good listener. And...thanks for giving me the perspective I needed."

With that, Yang left Sojiro alone and went off to do...Yang things. Sojiro's face then frowned slightly, looking over his shoulder. "I don't appreciate being spied on, Blake." He said.

Blake Belladonna fell into view. "You...knew I was here?" She was stunned.

"You're good at concealing your presence, my dear, but you're a thousand years too early to try and hide from me." Sojiro told her. "So tell me, if you were so interested in what Yang had to say, why not involve yourself? I'm sure she would've loved your perspective."

Blake fell silent. "How are you able to justify Professor Ozpin's choices in life and not mine?" She asked. "Do you think I wanted to leave the rest of my team?"

"Of course I don't." Sojiro promised. "And I'm sure you think you have trust issues of your own to work out that are part of what seems to be a habit of yours. But this isn't about trust issues, Blake. This is about you being unable to face your problems."

Blake's ears drooped at this. Sojiro sighed. "I know you probably think me a hypocrite, considering how I handled Ozpin's issues and yours. Would you like to know why?"

Blake nodded. "Do you have a family, Blake?"

Blake nodded again. "And how are they?"

"They're fine," Blake responded, confused as to what Sojiro was getting at, "my dad's the chieftain of Menagerie...that's the island where many Faunus live."

"...Why are you not with them?" Sojiro inquired curiously.

Without thinking, Blake responded. "It started after my parents stepped down as the leaders of the White Fang. I was so mad at them from running away from the fight, I left."

"What fight?"

"Faunus are practically second class citizens in Remnant. The White Fang...before everything after...fought for equality. I hated how they left, so I continued the fight in their stead...until the White Fang started taking things too far."

"And you didn't think to perhaps go to your parents to try and bring the White Fang back to what they were before, back then?" Sojiro inquired. "You ran from them, Blake, when they could have been your best chance to fix something you were passionate about."

"...I was ashamed." Blake admitted. "Ashamed of myself for not seeing what they saw. Ashamed for continuing to serve in the White Fang for so long. So I instead worked in the shadows as a student at Beacon, trying to become a Huntress to change the world."

"And yet you continued making that same mistake. When confronted by something difficult, you ran when your friends needed you." Sojiro pointed out to her.

"AND HOW IS THAT ANY DIFFERENT FROM OZPIN LYING?!" Blake demanded, tears now in her eyes.

"Because you do not have trust issues, Blake." Sojiro revealed.

"Don't you dare psychoanalyze me! Do you even realize how hard it is for Faunus to trust anyone? I didn't want anyone to hate me when I had grown to care about them! I couldn't bear something like that!" Blake yelled.

"And you didn't even think what running away would do to the people you care about? It's not that you have trust issues, Blake.." Sojiro insisted. "You have a family that loves you. Friends that love you. And even if I acknowledge that you are jaded because of what happened to the White Fang and how the Faunus are treated, that doesn't prove your claim of trust issues. How can someone with that many people who offer unconditional love to them have trust issues?"

Blake fell silent as that questioned pierced her like an arrow. "It's not trust you have a problem with, Blake. Your real problem is that you cannot face up to your flaws. You claim to be a proud Faunus, fighting for equality, and yet you hid in plain sight at Beacon. You claim to fight for justice, but you run from the fact that deep down, you don't truly understand what justice is. And most importantly, you claim to love your friends, but when they needed you the most, you ran away from them. And now, here you are, trying to fix things and make it as though they never happened, like you can just make things right without addressing the fact that all this happened because of you. I really am sorry to tell you this Blake, but you don't have trust issues, you are ruled by fear."

Blake was almost in tears again. Every single thing he said cut her deep, but it was all true. All of it. Sojiro sighed, walking over and pulling her into a grandfatherly embrace. "I don't mean to be harsh, Blake." He said. "I'm sorry about that."

"However, Yang is right that we're about to fight a war. She needs her best friend, but she also needs to be able to trust her best friend. Ruby has every intention of fighting, and as her older sister, Yang needs to look out for her. She can't trust you, if you keep running away. You understand that, right?"

Blake nodded. Sojiro broke the embrace and moved Blake's head up, making her look him in the eye. "There is plenty of good in you, Blake. Plenty. But our flaws hold us back from being the best we can be. I'm hoping that Ozpin works through his trust issues as he realizes that we have no intention of abandoning or betraying him in his own missions And I hope you'll be able to work through your cowardice. And while I do apologize that I have to use such a harsh word, that is exactly what it is."

Blake nodded again. "Blake, we all want to be able to count on you, when the war officially does begin. So please, help us justify that faith."

Blake sniffed and nodded a final time. "Do you think when this is over...things can go back to the way they were. Yang's my best friend too, and…"

"Blake, once something happens, you can't take it back." Sojiro bluntly told her. "Things can never be the way they were because that's in the past. All you can do now is improve on your mistakes and try to do better next time."

Sojiro then gave Blake a gentle smile. "Why don't you go and reach out to Noriko? She may be a medic, but she's also good at listening to other people's problems. A little girl talk might do you well. Fair warning, she'll probably give you the same advice, so if you're not a fan of broken records, just be prepared."

Blake managed to regain her composure and bowed to the grandmaster. "Thank you," she said softly before walking away.

Sojiro watched Blake leave before sinking into his chair once again. "A teacher's work is never done." He muttered to himself.

Later, after a few hours of traveling frantically on foot, the quartet of emissaries, led by Qrow and Oscar, reached what was left of Argus. And by what was left, I mean a desert of sand and destroyed homes. All four men gazed at the carnage in disbelief and horror. EMTs were moving about, picking up bodies and desperately searching for survivors. "This is horrible." Oscar muttered.

"Hey, Shogo." Qrow addressed the Traveler. "Is this...how these cultists usually do things?"

"From what I've been told, yes." Shogo said, uncharacteristically grim. "We should be glad there are survivors. This could've been much worse."

Jaune got over his horror and began calling out for his sister. "Saffron!" He yelled. "Saffron!"

Then, much to the shock of the others, someone responded to Jaune's call. "Jaune?"

Jaune's eyes widened, he knew that voice. Jaune spun around to see a familiar face running towards him, flanked by a bespectacled woman and a frightened baby. "Jaune!" Saffron Cotta-Arc yelled in relief.

"Saffron! Sis!" Jaune sounded so relieved, running up and embracing Saffron.

"Oh Jaune!" Saffron started crying tears of relief.

"After we managed to meet up, Saffron was beside herself in worry. She was so worried you and your friends never even made it to Argus" Terra Cotta, Saffron's wife explained. "We got lucky. Saffron and Adrian had been trapped in a building from that sand attack...but they weren't injured. I just wish I could say the same about everyone else."

"I'm just glad you're all okay." Jaune insisted.

Qrow could not help but smile at the sight. "Nice to see a little bit of light in all this." He mused.

Qrow was then cut off by a tap from Ozpin's cane. "Qrow," Ozpin said, having assumed control of Oscar's body, "look."

Qrow looked to where Ozpin's cane was looking and gasped. Argus's base...it was gone. That damn Cardinal had destroyed it. "Was that...where the base was?" Shogo inquired curiously.

"Yeah." Qrow grimly muttered, reaching for his flask before being stopped by Ozpin.

"Qrow," he said, "I think now might be the time we call James."

Qrow took one look at the seriousness on Ozpin's face and nodded. "Yeah," he said, "I think you're right, Oz. No way Jimmy can ignore a declaration of war like this."

Qrow pulled out his scroll, tracked down James Ironwood's contact information and hit dial. "Come on, James, be useful for once." Qrow muttered as his scroll rang.

Then, much to Qrow's surprise, a voice was heard on the other end. "Is that you, Qrow?" Came the voice of James Ironwood. "I haven't heard your voice since Beacon."

"...I honestly did not expect you to pick up, James." Qrow admitted. "Did you get my letter?"

"After what happened to Argus, all letters to me were streamlined, just in case someone had secret intelligence about what happened. A directive I instituted because of...you know. Qrow, is it all true?" Ironwood asked.

Qrow nodded. "Yeah, Leo's...well, I'll tell you everything later. Listen, James, we're here at Argus, but we can't stay here. We need to talk about what happened to Argus in person. And not just Argus, but a crap ton of other bad stuff that has happened and will continue to happen if we don't do something. I need you to get us into Atlas."

"Qrow, you're asking me to bypass the blockade I set up." Ironwood noted. "Please, try to understand, the people are scared."

"I know they are, James." Qrow said with sympathy. "But...there's someone with me who might be able to change your mind."

Qrow handed the scroll to Ozpin, who quickly cleared his throat. "I once told you that scouts were needed in war before the troops, James." Ozpin reminded him. "We're the scouts now, James. Please, bring us to Atlas so that we can deliver the information you need for Atlas to survive.

Ironwood fell deathly silent at Ozpin's voice. A full minute passed before he spoke once more. "...Is that you, Oz?" He said in a soft tone of voice that screamed relief.

Back at the Traveler's headquarters, Sojiro and Noriko were preparing to leave, much to the confusion of everyone except Shuya, who was watching them. "Where are you going?" Weiss Schnee asked curiously.

"We have a lock on another world that's close by." Sojiro explained. "We suspect that the cult could be preparing to make a move there as well, due to the world's close proximity. I need to make sure the people there are ready."

"We're leaving Shuya in charge." Noriko added. "One of us needs to remain behind to maintain the base's form. I need to come along because I'm the medic, obviously. So no one get hurt while we're gone."

"Wait!" Ruby spoke up.

"What is it, Ruby?" Sojiro asked curiously.

"Take me with you." Ruby requested.

"Out of the question." Noriko immediately shot the idea down. "Ruby, if you come with us, you'll be exposing yourself to more people like the ones you fought yesterday. Do you honestly think you're ready for that?"

"It's not whether I feel ready or not." Ruby admitted. "But if those cultists really do plan to do to this world what they're trying to do to mine, I can't just sit back and do nothing."

"Ruby, you are not strong enough." Noriko calmly told her. "I won't be able to help you if you get hurt when there will probably be civilians that need my help."

"Ruby, she's right." Yang told her. "We're not strong enough to take these guys yet. We'd just be in the way."

"But will we ever be ready if we're staying out of the fight?" Ruby asked. "Innocent people could be dying down there, Yang."

"I know, I don't like it anymore than you do." Yang admitted. "But…"

"Ruby," Sojiro interrupted, gently patting the girl on the head, "continue your training with Maria. Once we've gained allies from this world and whichever other worlds could be suffering from the cult's influence, I will do everything in my power to make sure you're ready for the war, if fighting in it really means that much to you."

"It does." Ruby insisted.

"I wish it didn't," Sojiro admitted, "were it up to me, I'd bar children from fighting. But if it means that much to you, I give you my word as a teacher that you'll be ready for war when the time comes. But for now, I need you to put your trust in me."

Ruby fell silent. Then, remembering that she could trust the old man, she nodded. "Okay, Grandmaster." She said. "I'll leave this world in your hands."

Sojiro smiled and nodded. "Noriko," he said, "let's get going."

"Yes sir," Noriko said as she quickly opened up a pathway to a new world.

"Stay safe, both of you!" Ruby told them.

Sojiro nodded and entered the pathway with Noriko, soon running out of sight. Noriko then turned her attention to Sojiro. "If I may, Grandmaster, you need to make an effort not to exert yourself so much this time."

Sojiro turned to Noriko. "Your body can't handle the stress. The more you fight, the closer you bring yourself to death."

"I know," Sojiro admitted.

"Then take my advice and try not to involve yourself in any fights. Just focus on saving anyone who's in trouble and then leave before you drive yourself to an even earlier grave." Noriko told him.

Sojiro sighed. "I know how you feel, Noriko." He admitted. "But, honestly, I have to side with Ruby on this."

"Innocent people are in trouble. I can't do nothing if that's really the case."

Noriko was silenced by that response, but her worry was still great. Sojiro was her patient, after all, and her superior. His death would be hard to overcome for many reasons. The biggest being they were about to enter a war, and even when weakened, he was still their trump card. He could not die yet. She would not allow it. And neither would he.

Meanwhile, in this different world, a young, innocent-looking boy with green hair was finishing his morning stretches after rising from bed. Surrounding him were various merchandises of a certain superhero.

Izuku Midoriya managed an eager smile as he prepared to greet the day before him, in spite of the horrible events that had been occurring in the world around him. "Time for another day at UA High." He said, exiting his dorm room.

 **A.N: So, a lot to unpack here. Yes, Jaune's sister's family is still alive. I'm not that heartless. The next world will be My Hero Academia. And, we introduced some RWBY OCs from the White Fang. Considering the smaller rogue's gallery in these four series, expect this to happen a bit more. Hope everyone enjoyed the finale to RWBY's part of the prologue. Next time, the immensely popular (and for good reason) My Hero Academia**


	7. Chapter 7: No More Room In Hell

**Chapter 7: No More Room In Hell**

Life goes on. That is both the most hopeful and tragic advice someone can give you at the same time. You get to see tomorrow, and you hope that the next day of your life is better than the last. However, at the same time, there is also the reality that the next day could be even worse. Life may go on, but whether it gets better or worse almost seems like a gamble.

Izuku Midoriya was probably more familiar with the reality of that statement than anyone. Born Quirkless, which meant you were one of the unlucky few in this world that did not have superpowers of some form, Izuku was cursed from the start to be a freak, with life getting worse and worse. Life went on, but it did not get better for the longest time.

Then he met his idol, All Might, the world's greatest hero, the Symbol of Peace. One thing led to another and he ended up inheriting All Might's Quirk and becoming his successor as the Symbol of Peace. And life went on. This time though, it got so much better for young Izuku.

As he walked through the halls, desperately trying to find something to do on the weekend to occupy his mind, he could not help but think of that single statement: life goes on. All hell seemed to be breaking loose, but life goes on.

It happened only a few days ago. It seemed sudden, too sudden. But apparently, an unknown enemy attacked the prison known as Tartarus. As in, the prison that held criminals so vile, so evil, that the death penalty was not enough of a punishment for them. Just the thought of that prison frightened Izuku. Just how evil did a person have to be that death was not punishment enough? Also, how evil did someone have to be to set those kinds of prisoners free?

Now, every single inmate in that prison was running wild, all because of some unknown enemy that decided a prison break was a good idea. But, life goes on. Even so, it definitely seemed like life was going to only get worse as it went on. All those horrible people running loose now...it did not take a genius to know that the world was about to become even more unsafe than it has been since All Might's retirement.

Izuku's phone buzzed in his pocket. He took it out and saw All Might's contact information, along with a text.

" _Bringing Young Todoroki and Young Bakugou back from getting their Provisional Licenses. Want to talk to you when we get back to school."_

Izuku texted back without hesitation. _"Might be awhile, Principal Nezu wants to hold a school assembly today, in response to the prison break."_

All Might quickly responded. _"That's what I want to talk to you about. It concerns your status as the up and coming Symbol of Peace."_

Izuku froze at seeing that text. Already, he could feel the pressure of living up to his retired idol. Knowing that All Might was awaiting a response, he managed a text. _"I understand."_ He said simply.

"Deku!" Izuku turned to see Ochaco Uraraka and Tenya Iida, his two best friends, waving to him.

Izuku swallowed hard and went to join them. It was time to hear Principal Nezu's thoughts on the current crisis. And after that, it would be time to find out where his path to being the new Symbol of Peace would take him.

Meanwhile, Toshinori Yagi, also known as All Might, lowered his phone upon reading that final text from his apprentice. _He's always so talkative when I'm involved._ All Might thought to himself. _Such a simple response...this must be worrying him._

All Might sighed, gazing at his weakened arms, attached to his weaker, true form. The Symbol of Peace really did not look like much anymore. _I really have failed...just when I thought All For One was finally locked away, he's broken out of prison...and it's not just him._

"Hey," All Might looked up to see one of his students at UA High, the explosively tempered Katsuki Bakugou, "you better not still be stressing about us taking on those purse snatchers."

All Might shook his head. "No," he said, "I'm over that. Honestly, I criticize the two of you for jumping right in, and I was no better when I first got my license."

"If I may, sir." Shoto Todoroki, son of the current Number 1 Hero, Endeavor, spoke up. "Who were you on the phone with?"

All Might froze at this, gazing at Katsuki, who was looking at him knowingly. Katsuki knew the secret behind One For All, and how Izuku was the current bearer of the Quirk that had been passed down through generations. However, Shoto knew nothing about that. He had to be careful. One For All was still a very guarded secret, for good reason.

"Yeah," All Might smiled reassuringly, "I've been getting a lot of messages lately, asking for advice on how to handle the Tartarus Prison Break."

That was thankfully true. All Might hated to lie, so he simply told something that was technically the truth. Indeed, considering that a lot of those inmates had been put away by All Might himself, back in his heyday, it was obvious the police and government would ask for his advice on recapturing those criminals.

And, considering what All Might wanted to talk to Izuku about, it made it even more true. He just had to omit the fact he was speaking with Izuku about it. That would give away too much about his secret.

Shoto and Katsuki both stiffened at the mention of the prison break. Even they were concerned. The fact Katsuki was concerned honestly frightened All Might. He was supremely confident, so seeing him like that was just...well, concerning.

"I'll be honest with you boys," All Might sighed, "part of the reason I was so concerned about you two fighting those purse snatchers was the chance you might run into the Tartarus Inmates. Strong as you boys are, you're nowhere near ready to take on those kinds of people."

Shoto and Katsuki both lowered their heads at All Might's blunt words. "Sir," Shoto spoke up again, "are you allowed to tell us the current state of things?"

"Only what the media has already said, and they've been pretty blunt about how things are." All Might explained. "It's bad, really bad."

"You put away a lot of those bastards, right?" Katsuki folded his arms. "Any advice?"

"Stay away from them, don't pick fights you can't win, Young Bakugou." All Might warned. "These people are on a completely different level from the petty thieves you ran into."

Katsuki narrowed his eyes. "The hell's up with that? If I do get into a fight with one of those guys, I'll win, that's what heroes do."

"Heroes are always risking their lives, Young Bakugou." All Might acknowledged. "And at the end of the day, they have to win for the sake of the people. But you can't hope to win if you are hopelessly outmatched. And these villains are the worst of the worst."

Shoto sighed. "Dad mentioned something similar in a text he sent me this morning. Even he's worried about all the villains that broke out."

All Might sighed. "This has to be weighing on him." He noted.

"Anyway," All Might continued, "you boys will probably only catch the tail end of the principal's emergency assembly, so I'll just bring you up to speed. The school's going to get some added security from Pro Heroes."

Shoto's eyes widened. "You expect the school to become a target?"

"Because that bastard you rumbled with in your last bout as a hero was one of the inmates, right?" Katsuki immediately caught on.

All Might nodded. "The one you boys saw me fight...All For One, he's loose again. Him, the League of Villains, or any other one of those escaped inmates could suddenly decide to target the school to get to me."

 _I can't tell them that it'll also be because of Young Izuku,_ All Might added inwardly, _I'll just scare them more than they already are, and it'll isolate him. He needs his friends by his side more than ever now. It'll help him worry less about what is to come._

"And you think literally any hero that isn't you has a chance at stopping that guy?" Katsuki frowned, remembering the destruction of that fight.

"They'll certainly try, if it means protecting the future of heroism." All Might said resolutely.

"I don't like that." Shoto admitted. "I hate the idea of heroes dying for me when I can fight too. It's frustrating."

Before All Might could calm Shoto down, Katsuki, of all people, spoke up. "Cut the crap, Icy Hot, they're doing it because they're heroes."

"We both saw what the Big Boss did in that fight, do you really think you and I could make a difference? What about any of those other guys? A bunch of them were people All Might had to put away himself. Do you really think we can fight guys All Might had to fight when he was at his best? And we're no All Might. Heroes win, but All Might's right, we can't win."

Shoto gazed at Katsuki, surprised at him talking sense like this. "I don't like it any more than you do." Katsuki admitted. "And if worse comes to worse, I'll gladly fry their asses for attacking our school. But if someone like him shows up, or someone close to his level, we're screwed and you know it."

"And furthermore, you say you don't want to be protected because you can fight too." Katsuki narrowed his eyes. "How do you think All Might feels? These guys could target the school to get to him, and he can't even fight anymore."

Shoto gazed at Katsuki in disbelief. He took one look at All Might's weakened form and nodded in understanding. "I'm sorry, All Might." He said. "I...it never even occurred to me."

All Might smiled and raised a hand to silence Shoto. "It's alright, Young Todoroki, you're stressed about this, as am I. You just have to have faith in the people who are experienced in this."

 _I say that, but this is new for all of us. Even me._ All Might inwardly admitted. _Never have Pro Heroes been given Wartime Privileges._

Wartime Privileges were something the United Nations had created for Pro Heroes, just in case the worst happened, and pros had to unite and fight to defend the common man. This was one of those times. It was actually the only time this has happened. Even when Destro of the Quirk Liberation Army, began his crusade, Wartime Privileges were not given.

 _This may very well be the world's darkest days._ All Might grimly concluded. _Damn it, I hate being powerless at times like this._

Sadly, All Might had no idea how right he was.

"To close, please know that UA is just as dedicated to your safety as always." Principal Nezu, the humanoid mouse, hamster, dog, or whatever, began to conclude his assembly inside of the massive gymnasium of UA high. "And so, we will be taking every precaution possible, and cooperate with the government, to do so."

"I ask that all students please review evacuation protocol and watch out for each other in these dark times." Nezu did not sound joyful once throughout his speech, he was dead serious. "Remember that you are the future. Your lives are precious."

"Dismissed, please try to go about your days as normal and stay out of the way of the pros who are trying to protect this school."

Izuku, Tenya and Ochaco all rose up with the rest of their school. Izuku noticed that Tenya was taking his phone out of his pocket. "Iida," Izuku raised an eyebrow. Tenya was not one to take his phone out so quickly after a big, school-related event. He usually had to get a hundred feet away from the event first. "Who are you texting?"

"The rest of our class. You'll be getting a text in the group chat." Tenya replied. "We're going to meet in the commons. Bakugou and Todoroki should be returning from getting their provisional license soon. We won't start until they're here."

"You have an idea about this?" Ochaco asked curiously.

Tenya nodded. "As class representative, it is up to me to do everything in my power to ensure the safety of my classmates. Yaoyorozu and I have been going back and forth on this all morning."

"Do you have any ideas?" Izuku inquired curiously.

Tenya nodded. "One," he said, "and it's all we can do in this scenario, considering Principal Nezu and the faculty want us to try and live normal lives."

Izuku almost nodded in agreement before he saw Katsuki and Shoto. "Kacchan!" He called out. "Todoroki!"

Katsuki instinctively glared at his rival while Shoto nodded, acknowledging Izuku's presence. Izuku then remembered All Might's text. "Sorry, Iida," he said, "I actually have a meeting I need to go to, first. You guys don't mind waiting, right?"

"Huh?" Iida raised an eyebrow. "How long do you expect this meeting to be?"

"I really don't know, but it's important." Izuku insisted. "Really, Iida, I'm sorry. But I have to go to this meeting first."

"But Deku…" Ochaco spoke up before Katsuki, of all people, came to his rescue.

"Shut up, both of you. You're just going to make him blubber like an idiot if you force him to choose between his meeting and whatever it is you are trying to set up." Katsuki pointed out.

Izuku smiled gratefully at Katsuki while Tenya and Ochaco fell silent at the explosive student's bluntness. As Izuku moved past Katsuki to make his way to All Might's office, Katsuki's next words stopped him. "You better get something good out of that meeting, Deku. Nobody likes time-wasters."

Izuku caught the hidden meeting behind Katsuki's words and nodded. "I'll see you guys in the common area soon, I promise!" He called out, running to All Might's office as fast as he could.

"Is there something you know that we should, Bakugou?" Shoto immediately spoke up, suspiciously, knowing that Katsuki saying a single overall-pleasant sentence to Izuku was grounds for suspicion.

Katsuki just shrugged. He knew saying anything would make them more suspicious of Izuku. So, he walked past them, ignoring them completely. "Hey, Bakugou!" Tenya yelled.

"I'm heading to the commons, that's where we're all meeting, right?" Katsuki brushed off their indignation at being brushed off like that.

"Bakugou!" Tenya was persistent though, he wanted answer.

"Just forget it, Iida." Shoto managed to calm him down. "You're never going to get anything out of him."

Admittedly, Shoto was suspicious at first. However, he was also smart. The last thing he needed right now was to sow discord among his classmates by calling people out on keeping secrets that were most likely harmless. However, he fully intended to have words with Izuku soon. Izuku and secrets...those two words being brought together only reminded him how mysterious his classmate and rival actually was.

And it all lead back to All Might.

"All Might!" Izuku knocked on the door to his mentor and idol's office.

"Come in," he heard his mentor's tired voice.

Izuku entered and saw All Might sitting on one of two couches. Standing next to the window overlooking the schoolyards though was another familiar face. "Gran Torino!" Izuku exclaimed, surprised to see All Might's mentor and the old man that had taught him to better use One For All.

"Good to see you, kid." Gran Torino let a small smile fall on his lips before turning serious. "Sit down, Toshinori and I have a lot to discuss with you."

Izuku did as asked, taking a seat across from All Might. "How are you feeling, kid?" All Might asked in worry. "You're not letting this whole thing get to you, right?"

"I'm trying not to." Izuku admitted, clutching his knees in worry. "But honestly, it's hard, All Might. I know what all this means, for me, for the world, for everyone."

All Might sighed. Sometimes he wished Izuku was not as smart and perceptive as he was. He wished the boy could just be blissfully ignorant, so he could still get to be a kid. But that time has long passed.

"I know, Izuku, I'm sorry." All Might said softly. "I thought all of this would be over when I put All For One away for good this time. I thought I had left a better world for you to take my place as the Symbol of Peace, so that things could be easier."

"I failed you," All Might bitterly and sadly noted, "and I'm so sorry about that."

Gran Torino immediately drop kicked All Might in the head, sending him flying off the couch and making Izuku scream in terror and worry. "Quit acting so down, Toshinori." Gran Torino chastised his student. "None of this is your fault. You putting yourself down like that isn't helping the situation."

All Might groaned and got to his feet, rubbing the side of his head. "You're right," he said, "sorry, sir."

"Anyway," Gran Torino turned to Izuku like nothing happened, "I think you know why we called you here, Deku. All For One is loose again, and he knows that you have One For All."

Izuku lowered his head like a frightened child. He remembered All For One's terrifying power. "I see." He said softly.

Gran Torino could not blame Izuku for his fear. "There's a huge probability he may do something to get to you. This school is a target now."

"What about my mom?" Izuku suddenly asked, realizing that if All For One would do something to get to him, his mom was not safe. "She's going to be a target if All For One knows about me!"

All Might and Gran Torino looked at Izuku. "Could someone please guard her? Make sure she's safe?" Izuku frantically asked. "Please! My mom has nothing to do with this!"

Gran Torino and All Might looked at each other before the old man smiled. "Don't worry, kid." He said. "I'll look after your mom."

 _You really did choose a hell of a successor, Toshinori._ Gran Torino complimented. _Faced with the idea of a terrifying villain like All For One coming after him, and his first worry is the safety of his mother._

"Anyway," Gran Torino got back on track, "we do have a silver lining in all of this. All For One is still recovering from his last fight with Toshinori. If he does come after this school, it won't be him personally. He'll be sending proxies."

"Like the League?" Izuku asked curiously.

Gran Torino and All Might looked at each other. All Might picked up the slack here. "Listen, Izuku," All Might said to him, "we suspect that a new party perpetrated the Tartarus Prison Break."

"Hold on, why wouldn't the League do it though? What about Tomura Shigaraki?" Izuku was now very confused.

"Deku, All For One _was_ the League's power." Gran Torino explained. "Strong as the new generation of villains are, they did not have the power to commit a prison break on such a level. Also, I got a copy of Chain Hero Bojangles' autopsy."

"His death did not fit any of the current League's MO." Gran Torino continued. "He was pretty much torn apart."

Izuku went pale at such a simple but horrifying description of what happened to Bojangles. "Anyway, the fact that some new party came out of nowhere and freed every inmate in Tartarus is scary enough. If anything, it's more scary than All For One being loose again." Gran Torino admitted.

"You only saw a horrifyingly armored man with destructive power." Gran Torino continued. "But all that armor was just a bunch of life-support apparatuses that he needed after his first fight with Toshinori. What you saw from All For One, is basically what you had been seeing from Toshinori up until that fight: weak embers from a man beyond his prime."

Izuku paled even further. All For One practically leveled an entire city in that fight, and that was him _weakened_? What the hell kind of monster was this guy in his prime? "Anyway, All For One is going to need time to recover and have new life-support apparatuses built and fitted. It'll be awhile before he's active again." Gran Torino assured Izuku.

Admittedly, Izuku was relieved to hear that. "But that doesn't extend to the others that were broken out." Gran Torino bluntly admitted, jetting back to All Might's desk and grabbing seven files.

"What are those?" Izuku asked curiously.

"Case files," Gran Torino replied, "of the seven most dangerous villains Toshinori brought down before his first confrontation with All For One a few years back."

Gran Torino dropped the case files onto the desk. Here, All Might began to pick up the slack. "You may recognize these seven villains, since you followed my career so closely. They were some of my most famous battles because of how powerful, dangerous and influential they were."

"What you did not know was that they had been living a double life. What you saw was only what they wanted you to see." All Might grimly revealed as he opened up each case file, one by one. "In reality, the big reason I came after them, was because all seven of them, were All For One's most dangerous allies, the source of his powerbase when he ruled Japan from the shadows."

Izuku's eyes widened, looking at the picture of each villain. He did indeed recognize them all. And knowing who each of them were, he found himself even more terrified when he realized that these 7 people worked so closely with All For One.

And now they were back, loose in the world once more.

"The Gilded King," Izuku gazed at the picture of the man in the center case file, then he began looking at the three files on the right. "The Mad Bomber, Queen, Good Luck."

And to top it all off, the three files on the left. "Carnivore, Berserker, and Kuro-Nuri."

Izuku looked at All Might in fear. "All of these villains...were All For One's top generals?"

All Might grimly nodded. "All For One's been around for a long time. Different people wore the monikers, but these people were the most recent."

"The crimes that the media showed only scratched the surface," All Might continued, "but in reality, they each were the current bearers of the names for All For One's top generals, which he used to enforce order back in the day."

And one by one, All Might pointed to each villain in the order Izuku read them. "Lucifer, Mammon, Lilith, Leviathan, Beelzebub, Beril, and Belphegor, The Seven Demon Lords."

"Each villain's crimes that you were allowed to see? In reality, each and every crime was to advance All For One's agenda."

Izuku found himself looking back at the Gilded King. "The Gilded King, also known as Mataro Kaneshiro. He was supposed to be Japan' next prime minister, until it was discovered that he was actually the Gilded King." Izuku remembered. "I remember reading about him like it was yesterday. He attacked the rallies of his political opponents, embezzled money, the works."

"Pretty much made normal corrupt politicians look like saints." All Might snorted.

Gran Torino nodded. "All of that was to give All For One an ally in the political world." He revealed. "And it almost worked, had Toshinori not gotten in the way."

"The Mad Bomber," All Might got back on track, "was known as a terrorist and a master thief who brazenly stole in the open. He claimed that he intended to use the funds he stole to build a powerful criminal empire in this 'age of chaos' as he so eloquently called it. In reality, he was Mammon. And his crimes were to fund All For One's activities."

"Queen was the ruler of all the seedy red light districts of Japan." All Might shook his head. "Now that woman was a piece of work. God only knows how many people she ruined by pulling them into lives of drugs and prostitution. Villains who destroy property are one thing, but next to Gilded King, she was the worst. That woman actively destroyed people with a damn smile on her face."

"And she did all of that for All For One?"

"Her prostitution and drug rings were another source of revenue for All For One." All Might nodded.

"Good Luck was an untouchable assassin and thief." Izuku remembered. "I remember even you had trouble bringing him down."

All Might nodded. For a brief moment, Izuku could not help but note how sad the man looked at the sight of Good Luck. "Good Luck was a pain to fight." He admitted. "His Quirk was...insane. To this day, I still don't know how I managed to beat him."

"Carnivore was an infamous mass murderer. Unlike Good Luck, who's targets were actual targets, the people Carnivore killed seemed random." Izuku shuddered, remembering the stories he read about Carnivore's crimes. "They say he never once left his victims in one piece."

"All For One kept him around as Beelzebub for the sole purpose of hurting and scaring people." All Might looked disgusted at the very sight of Carnivore. "In a way, I pity Carnivore. He was clearly not right in the head if he honestly thought killing people indiscriminately like that was okay."

"Berserker was actually a mysterious one. He assaulted heroes and police, yeah, but his record was nowhere near as bad as the others. Same with Kuro-Nuri." Izuku noted.

"That's because they were All For One's personal bodyguards, they didn't make a name for themselves until I had taken down everyone except for them and Gilded King." All Might explained. "Those two...their loyalty towards All For One was frightening. They knew they would most likely lose to me, but they fought me with everything they had for his sake."

All Might shook his head at the memories. "I know how charismatic and manipulative he can be, but I still don't understand how anyone could be so loyal to All For One."

"Anyway, Deku, I'm going to be very blunt here, they're the ones you have to worry about right now." Gran Torino explained. "They're out of prison, as is All For One. All For One can't come after you yet, but they can."

Izuku went pale at the thought of any of those villains coming after him. "I see." He said simply.

All Might sighed, knowing how scared his student was. "I'm sorry, Izuku," he said softly, "I really do wish I could say something to comfort you, but I can't. These are dark times, and I fear things are only going to get worse."

"I really am sorry," All Might continued, "I swear, when I gave you my power, I thought it was all over. All For One was gone, his enforcers were in jail, I thought I was leaving you a simple, safer world to take over as the Symbol of Peace. Instead, I've left you a world more dangerous than any other bearer of One For All has had to deal with, and I'm sorry about that."

"Don't make me kick you again, Toshinori." Gran Torino warned.

All Might surprisingly ignored Gran Torino and continued addressing his student. "If you want to find someone you believe can handle this and grant them One For All, I understand completely. You don't deserve this, Izuku, you're too good a kid to get mixed up in a war like this."

Izuku shook his head. "All Might," he said softly, "I want to keep this power. I want to stay your successor."

All Might looked at Izuku in surprise. "When you gave me your power, I'll admit, it was probably for selfish reasons on my part. I wanted so badly to live my dream, that I took on your power without even thinking of what it meant. I never considered the responsibility until after I had it. I was immature and selfish."

"But now," Izuku continued resolutely, "after everything that's happened, I can't back out of this. These people need a symbol like you were. Maybe I'm not ready to be their symbol now, but...I want to try, All Might."

"More than anything, I want to live up to the example you set for me, but also prove that you made the right choice." Izuku told All Might. "You are my hero, All Might, and you always will be. And _you_ believed in _me_."

"I want to be a great hero, All Might. I can't back down now. I can't just sit back and watch whoever's doing this…" Izuku trailed off, unable to finish.

"It looks like he's made up his mind, Toshinori. You must've had a hell of an effect on him when he was young and impressionable." Gran Torino noted.

All Might heaved a sigh and smile. "So it would seem." He concluded. "Okay, Izuku, we'll do this together. I'll reiterate the same promise as before. I'm going to do everything in my power to make you into a great hero."

"I do believe in my heart that you are worthy of being the next Symbol of Peace, and when that day comes, you'll be a great one. I just...had to make sure."

All Might then gestured to the door to his office with a smile. "That was all I wanted to say, Izuku. I just wanted to update you on what was happening. Why don't you try and relax with your classmates?"

"Iida and Yaoyorozu were about to hold a meeting." Izuku noted. "I'll be in the commons if you need me later, All Might."

Izuku rose to his feet. "Want to hold some training exercises tomorrow, after class?" He suggested. "I'd love to get your input on how to master Black Whip. The sooner I can get that Quirk under control, the more ready I'll be for when the next one manifests."

All Might smiled and nodded. "I'd like that." He said.

Izuku smiled back and exited All Might's office. Gran Torino shook his head with a smile. "Going from Quirkless to slowly manifesting a total of seven." He chuckled. "That kid must've been born under some lucky star, and he doesn't even realize it. He's so damn humble, he'd never agree with that assessment."

"...I really do have a great apprentice." All Might noted. "Hey, when do you think Izuku will manifest Master's Quirk?"

"...I can't tell whether you're excited for that, or worried." Gran Torino admitted before shrugging. "Hard to say, when Shimura told me about that dream she had with the previous bearers, she seemed...different afterwards."

 _Knowing what I know now,_ Gran Torino thought to himself, _I can't help but wonder. What did Shimura know about One For All's secret that she did not share with me? With Toshinori? That damn Quirk...still too many mysteries about it._

"Listen, Toshinori," Gran Torino said to him, "you stick by that boy's side. Even if the situation has changed, in more ways than one, he needs you."

All Might fell silent at that statement. "You're a crap teacher, but you're his teacher. I'll gladly help fill in the blanks whenever you need me, but at the end of the day, it needs to be you who helps him rise to the top."

"I know," All Might nodded, "that's why...I'm going to do everything I can to become a proper mentor to Izuku."

"But I'll be honest with you, sir." All Might continued. "I really do wish I could still fight. I put all those people away before. If I could do it again, I would in a heartbeat, and spare Izuku the pain of fighting them."

"I know, Toshinori, but we can't change the past, and we certainly can't change your current situation." Gran Torino reminded him. "You are no longer the Symbol of Peace. It was a great run, but it's over now."

"...I know. I wish it weren't so, but I know."

Meanwhile, far away from UA, two figures arrived on the rooftops of the city. Noriko of the Travelers gasped in amazement at the sight. "Marvelous!" She exclaimed. "It appears we've come across another technologically advanced world, sir."

"Not quite on the level of that previous world." Grandmaster Sojiro was quick to add. "Still, it's quite impressive. I can never get over how time runs differently in each world."

"Not just time, but history, evolution, religion, science, literally everything is different in every world." Noriko was eagerly vanishing and appearing on every corner of the rooftop, trying to take in as many of the sights as she could.

"You seem happier than you did in Remnant, Noriko." Sojiro pointed out. "Back in Remnant, you were rightfully worried."

Noriko froze and chuckled sheepishly. "I guess I kinda lost control of myself there." She mused before her face darkened. "I am still worried, sir. All this business with these cultists...new worlds...new enemies...it all worries me."

"But, we're slowly gathering allies." Noriko smiled. "I think, knowing that we've got some great friends with great potential at our back, that gives us comfort."

Noriko then continued with something that made Sojiro smile, impressed with Noriko's maturity in spite of her "youth" compared to other Watchers. "Doctors never go into surgery alone, sir. They always have a team."

"So," Noriko continued, "where should we go first, Grandmaster?"

"We'll ask around, get directions. Try to figure out where the leaders of this world reside." Sojiro responded.

Noriko then gazed at a few objects strapped to Sojiro's hip. "If I may, sir, do you plan on using any of those, this time?"

Sojiro nodded. "Only if I come across someone I can use it on. These were gifts from Princess Heiko. I intend to use them well."

Noriko's eyes widened. "The princess?" Noriko was stunned. "Oh come on, Grandmaster! You can't just drop something like that on me, and then have us go to work!"

Sojiro smiled. "Think of it as a motivation to stay safe. I'll tell you all about it when we get back." He teased.

Noriko puffed her cheeks up with a pout. "You know I'm your doctor, right? I could put you on some really wacky medication that could make you miserable."

Back at UA, Izuku returned to his classmates to find that all nineteen other students were already gathered and waiting for him. "Deku!" Ochaco exclaimed, happy to see her friend and crush.

"You kept us waiting, Midoriya." Momo Yaoyorozu, the deputy representative of Class 1A pointed out. "I hope your meeting was worth it."

Izuku smiled. "Sorry to keep you waiting, everyone." He said. "It was very important, and I definitely got a lot out of it."

"Well, you gonna tell us about it?" The big-toothed student known as Hanta Sero inquired curiously.

"Yeah, you owe us that much for keeping us waiting!" The tiny pervert known as Minoru Mineta yelled. "I bet it wasn't even a meeting! I bet it was a rendevouz with a girl! Probably that chick from the support department!"

A cold aura appeared, making Minoru freeze in place. Ochaco stared hard at Minoru. "Minoru," she said in a hauntingly sing-song tone of voice, "I'm sure Deku would never blow off his friends to be around some girl."

Ochaco really wanted to say 'hussy,' but even in her increasingly clingy, jealous state, she was too nice to call Mei Hatsume that.

"Oi," Katsuki spoke up, "Deku's allowed a little privacy. Besides, he's such a nerd, he'd probably bore ya to sleep with the details."

"Anyway, Iida, what was this big plan you had to help us stay safe." Katsuki addressed Tenya.

Tenya grinned, adjusting his glasses. "A plan beautifully simple but highly effective!" He declared. "A buddy system!"

"HUH?" Many people from Class 1A exclaimed, shocked at such a childish idea being suggested by their class rep.

"Hell no!" Katsuki yelled. "We ain't a bunch of grade-schoolers!"

"Says the man who's already throwing a temper tantrum." The blonde-haired Denki Kaminari sagely pointed out.

"I know it's not the most dignified solution, Bakugou, but need I remind you that desperate times call for desperate measures." Tenya reminded him. "And I do believe that the escape of the most dangerous criminals in the world counts as that."

Izuku then realized something. _The Hero Killer, Stain was incarcerated there. This must be weighing on Iida. There's no way he doesn't know._ He noted.

"The point is, as undignified as going back to a system used by grade-schoolers may be, it's the only way we'll know we're safe at all times."

"The fact of the matter is, there is strength in numbers. Knowing that we each will have a classmate looking out for us should make us feel safer in these troubled times." Momo spoke up.

Katsuki grumbled at this, but said nothing else. "I second this," the frog-girl known as Tsuyu Asui, spoke up, "this class...we're not just classmates. I've honestly started looking at you all as family too."

"Tsu…" The pink girl known as Mina Ashido gasped at Tsuyu's heartfelt statement.

Tsuyu looked down. "I don't want to lose any of you. If this buddy system helps keep you all safe, I'm all for it."

This silenced everyone. The spiky haired student with the manly spirit, one Eijirou Kirishima, decided to get everyone back on track, for Tsuyu's sake. "Hey, Iida," he said, "did you guys pair everyone up?"

Tenya nodded. "Yaoyorozu and I took care of it, yes." He said. "We wanted to make sure you were with the people you trusted the most."

This worried Izuku a bit. While there was benefit to being close with the ones you trusted, he honestly would have paired everyone off based on how well their Quirks played off each other.

"Since you asked, Kirishima." Tenya continued. "We'll start with who you're paired with. Yaoyorozu, the list."

Momo nodded. "When I call your names at the same time, that means you two are 'buddies'. First, Kirishima and Bakugou."

"Makes sense, Kirishima's the only one who can stand Bakugou's temper." Denki noted.

"Keep flapping those gums, Sparky, see what happens." Katsuki growled, making Denki let out an 'eep'. Eijirou, meanwhile, seemed stoked at having his best bud as his "buddy".

Denki quickly regained his composure and smirked. "Not that I need to worry of course, I've got the personality that can be paired up with just about anyone."

"Kaminari and Mineta." Momo read the next pair.

"WHAT?!" Denki screamed.

"Why am I paired with a dude?" Minoru demanded.

"Did you really think any girl would accept you as their buddy?" punk-rock student, Kyoka Jiro bluntly inquired, making Minoru deflate. "That goes for both of you, honestly."

"You're hurting my feelings with talk like that, Jiro." Denki bawled.

Momo ignored Denki and Minoru's complaints and continued. "Asui and Uraraka."

"I expected as much." Tsuyu shrugged with a smile.

"Let's watch each other's backs, Tsu." Ocahco smiled right back.

"Jiro and Ashido." Mina and Kyoka gave a quick high-five.

"And rounding up the girls' pairs," Minoru snickered at that innuendo, resulting in a slap from Tsuyu's frog-like tongue, "myself and Hagakure."

The floating school-uniform, known as Toru Hagakure, let out a cheer. "Tokoyami and Shoji." The bird-man known as Fumikage Tokoyami nodded silently to the multi-armed Mezo Shoji.

"Koda and Sato." The musclebound Rikido Sato gave a thumbs-up to the nervous Koji Koda.

"Aoyama and Ojiro." The flamboyant Yuga Aoyama smiled with a sparkle at Mashirao Ojiro, while the martial artist just looked at Yuga, wondering why he got paired with him.

"Sero and Todoroki." Hanta gave Momo a deadpan stare, due to being paired up with the guy who turned him into a glacier during the UA Sports Festival.

"And that leaves myself and Midoriya." Tenya spoke up, concluding the list, making Izuku perk up at the mention of him being with his friend. "Now, I want every single one of you to stick close to your buddies at all times."

There were some groans from the rest of the class. "I know everyone's not fond of this solution, but what choice do we have. As students of UA, we have a duty to do our part to ensure our own safety. If there's a way we can increase our chances by even a few percentage points, I'm going to take it." Momo admitted.

"And this will be enforced." Tenya promised. "We went over this with Mr. Aizawa and he gave us his full approval. So if any of you are seen without your buddies, and Mr. Aizawa finds out…"

"Oh dude!" Denki yelled indignantly. "That is straight-up blackmail!"

"Blackmail is such an ugly word." Momo brushed Denki off.

"Now that you understand this will be enforced, this meeting is adjourned. And you all better be leaving this room with your buddies."

Eijirou happily dragged a visibly angry Katsuki out of the room. One by one, the pairs shuffled out with Minoru, Denki, Momo and Toru as the last ones to leave. Only Izuku and Tenya remained. Izuku's friend had a completely serious look on his face.

"Midoriya," Tenya said to him, "I think you know why I paired us up."

Izuku nodded in understanding. "You don't want me running off again, right?"

"I know you mean well, Midoriya, but this is war. Tensei texted me such from the hospital." Tenya told him. "What happened with All Might and that...monster he fought against, it was a real eye-opener for me. I always was well aware of how insignificant we are as students, our fight with Stain should've been enough to drive that home."

Tenya lowered his head. "But during that moment, I realized just how mortal we all were, whether we were students or pros."

"Midoriya," Tenya said to Izuku, "I have no doubt you will be a fantastic hero one day."

"But...you are also, without a doubt, one of my dearest friends." Tenya said with the utmost sincerity. "I couldn't forgive myself if you died and I wasn't there to look out for you."

Izuku's eyes widened at Tenya's heartfelt statement. _That's right,_ he realized, _I'm so focused on trying to live up to All Might's example...that I forgot it's not just my mom who's impacted by the choices I make, but it's also my friends. They care about me too. Iida's just doing this because he cares._

 _But, it's because he cares, and it's because I care that I have to stay on this path._ Izuku reminded himself. _I want to be a great hero, not just for All Might and for me, but for my friends too. I'm going to master One For All, and all the Quirks that come with it._

 _That way, I can protect everyone…_

"Iida," Izuku smiled, "thanks, really. You're one of my best friends too."

Elsewhere, in a remote location, shrouded in darkness, a man in a wheelchair with more sinister intentions was wheeled out into the open. He was breathing heavily, hooked up to multiple life-support devices. "Sorry to keep you all waiting, everyone." He said weakly, smiling, treating his seven associates to the pleasant image of a face that was nothing but a mouth and scarred tissues. "But, the devil has returned to hell."

All seven associates smiled at that statement. The devil has indeed returned to hell. All For One was back.

In another undisclosed location, someone who should have been thrilled at the return of All For One was in a more somber mood. Then again, if Tomura Shigaraki had been made aware of how his master's jailbreak had spared the League of Villains the wrath of the loyal villain known as Gigantomachia, he might have been in a better mood.

The current leader of the League of Villains, Tomura Shigaraki, found himself slipping back into his old habit of scratching at his neck. He growled, audibly frustrated with this new turn of events.

Tomura had honestly been ready, ready to take the reins as the leader of all villains. To create a world without All Might and to show the world just how fragile their justice actually was. To create a society that made it easier for freaks like him to live in.

Then, his master is broken out of prison by some unknown party that soon contacts Tomura and tells him to "watch the fireworks". Tomura found himself off his game, trying to figure out if this was part of his master's plan, or if this was something completely different. _The least master could do is reach out to me, tell me what's happening._

"You doing okay, Shigaraki?" Tomura turned to see his scarred second-in-command, Dabi.

Tomura shook his head. "I am not happy about this, Dabi." Tomura admitted. "I should be happy that master is out of jail, but there are so many unknowns…"

"Don't be frustrated with that." Dabi advised. "You act like a leader when you're concerned about unknown factors."

Tomura frowned. "What should we do from here?" He asked. "I'd like your input on this, Dabi. We're comrades after all."

Dabi shrugged. "If it were me, I'd do just what these new guys suggested. Sit back and watch the fireworks. Let's see what these new guys can do." Dabi then continued, curious about a particular part of that message. "Did they say when the 'fireworks show' was going to start?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"Curiosity," Dabi shrugged, "and also, it totally isn't because Toga is going to burst if she doesn't have a date to look forward to."

Tomura groaned. Himiko Toga really could be a handful sometimes. His lips then curled into a gleeful, sinister smirk. "What day is it, Dabi?" He asked.

"December 4?" Dabi responded.

"Today," Tomura said simply, while Dabi's lips curled into a cruel smile as well, knowing what Tomura meant by the word: 'today.'

While Sojiro and Noriko walked down the streets, they were suddenly drawn to an explosion in the distance. "What the hell?" Noriko gasped in surprise.

Sojiro's eyes widened, sensing a very familiar energy in the distance. "Damn," he cursed, "so they are here too."

Sojiro gazed out towards the school the locals had referred to as UA High, their destination. "Noriko," he said, "you go and provide medical attention to the survivors. I need to keep going to UA."

"Are you sure, sir?" Noriko asked. "I don't know if the individuals the locals call Heroes can handle these guys."

Sojiro looked down at this. "I know," he said, "but we need to reach UA to have any chance winning these people to our side. Now that they're attacking, they won't be as inclined to trust us."

"If we can help keep UA safe, we can win allies from the most prestigious school in this country to our side." Sojiro reminded her. "Catch up to me once you've treated any civilians or if the situation has worsened. Remember, you're not a fighter."

Noriko nodded and vanished from Sojiro's sight. _UA High,_ Sojrio began running towards the school once more, his run turning into a Vanishing Walk, _the school that creates heroes...and the school that created the greatest hero...All Might._

Back at UA, an upperclassmen with massive ears suddenly came running into the commons, startling Izuku and Tenya. "Something's going on!" He frantically yelled. "Turn on the TV!"

Tenya and Izuku looked at each other before Tenya grabbed the remote to the TV in the commons and pressed on. He quickly moved to the news and he and Izuku were treated to the horrible sight of a few city blocks on fire.

The on-scene reporter was frantically trying to get the story out. "As of right now, the attacker's identity is unknown. Heroes on the scene are working to try and rescue survivors and hopefully find the perpetrators."

"That's the Nabuu Shopping District!" Tenya exclaimed.

Izuku's eyes were wide with fear, staring at the screen. _Was this Mad Bomber's doing? Did All For One make his move already? I thought we had more time._

On the scene in the destroyed Nabuu Shopping District, six pro heroes were indeed on the scene, desperately trying to rescue survivors. "Damn, these flames are intense!" A pro dressed like an eskimo exclaimed, trying to freeze the flames with his ice Quirk. "I'm barely making a dent in them. Has anyone found any survivors?"

A musclebound pro in a tank top leapt from the flames. "No one," he said grimly, "all I've found are bodies."

The Arctic Hero: Snowman, and the Adrenaline Hero: Guts, shared a grim look with each other. "Hey, Guts," Snowman said, "do you want me to get someone else to take over? Your Quirk has a time limit, doesn't it?"

"We don't have any other heroes on the scene with the right Quirks for rescue." Guts reminded him. "I need to go back in there. Have Candlina and the others reported in from the other side of the disaster? Like any word on the perpetrators?"

Snowman shook his head, gazing at the flames. The Candle Hero: Candlina, along with other pros such as the Scissors Hero, the Electro Hero, and the Raid Hero, had been assigned to the other end of this attack to try and find the perpetrators. Deciding to contact them, Snowman spoke into his earpiece. "Candlina, do you read? What's your status?"

"I'm going back into the flames," Guts told Snowman, "give me an update when you can."

As Guts ran back into the flames, Snowman received no response from Candlina. "Candlina, respond," Snowman's face contorted into one of concern, "Thunderbolt, Bomberman, Edward, does anyone copy?"

Snowman heard the sound of a thud. He turned and nearly threw up at the sight of the sound's source. Bomberman's head was rolling towards him, and Bomberman's body was nowhere to be seen. "What the hell?!" Snowman screamed. "What the hell?!"

Bomberman's head then began to slowly melt, much to Snowman's disgust. "Sorry about that," A haughty female voice spoke up, "you were so busy trying to talk to people who would never respond, this seemed like the best way to get your attention."

Snowman turned to see a violet-haired woman dressed in black robes and purple lipstick, smirking cruelly as she strode out of the flames without a care in the world. Snowman gasped when he saw she was carrying the corroding corpse of a woman with candle wicks for hair. "Candlina!" He yelled.

"Oh, don't bother, dear." She said. "This one's dead too. They're all dead. All in the name of our Lord."

"Oh, and your other friend, the one who's searching for survivors. Don't bother, we were very thorough." The woman's face contorted into an almost demonic visage. "Genocide is what we do on a daily basis, after all."

"G-Guts!" Snowman called out. "Guts, you have to get back here, the enemy has -"

Snowman was cut off when he heard the pained scream of Guts. "Oh, right, did I mention I'm not alone?" The woman taunted. "Yeah, as much as I'd like to take credit for this. The adorable Acolytes, who are oh-so dedicated to the cause did all of this."

"No, my power is far more up close and personal." The woman licked her lips. "Would you...like to see it?"

"Who the hell are you people?" Snowman demanded as several cloaked men stepped out of the flames and fell into place behind the woman.

The woman chuckled. "I'm Bishop Ibuki, darling." She introduced herself. "I'm a holy woman, here with my people to serve as the harbinger for this world's end."

As Ibuki advanced on Snowman, the news crew on the scene, bravely trying to cover the attack, suddenly found themselves caught up in an explosion, courtesy of Acolytes tossing fireballs like lunatics.

As the connection to the commons TV shut off, Izuku, Tenya and everyone else present, gazed at the snowy screen in disbelief. "This isn't real." Izuku heard a fellow first year whimper. "This just can't be real."

 _It is happening though._ Izuku thought grimly. _I had hoped we'd have more time, but this is happening...right now!_

At that moment, the entire student body of UA heard Principal Nezu's voice over the intercom. "Attention all students," there was no playfulness in Nezu's voice, he was dead serious, like he had been during the assembly, "as I'm sure you all know by now, the city is under attack by an unknown force. For your own safety, we will be evacuating the school. All students are to make their way to the back exits in a calm and orderly fashion. From there, you will find your homeroom teacher waiting for you by your bus, which will take you far away from the city."

"Remember, calm and orderly." Nezu insisted. "As your teachers, we will keep you safe."

Izuku felt Tenya grab him by the shoulder. "Stick with me, Midoriya." Tenya said to him. "That's an order as your class representative, your friend, and the one you've been 'buddy'd' with."

Izuku nodded in understanding. This time, Tenya had no intention of letting him go off and play the hero, even though it was most likely his fault the school was being attacked in the first place. And even though he understood Tenya's reasoning, it upset him to no end, to know that the school was probably being attacked because of him, and he could not do anything about it.

Meanwhile, All Might was suddenly confronted in his room by the police, led by his contact, Naomasa Tsukauchi. "Hey there, All Might." Naomasa said with a smile.

"Naomasa," All Might nodded, knowing what was coming, "I take it you're here to take me to a secure location?"

"Sharp as always," Naomasa complimented, "we're concerned this attack could be to get to you, so we're moving you to a secure location."

"Naomasa," All Might warned him, "the school's getting attacked either way. Me being smuggled out wouldn't make a difference."

Naomasa shook his head. "Not if we leaked a false location to you via the media." Naomasa pointed out. "It's a very simple tactic, but it's one the enemy will have no choice but to take seriously. Especially if you are indeed the target."

All Might lowered his head at this. The Symbol of Peace, being forced into hiding. Naomasa noticed the look on All Might's face and smiled. "You protected this world for so long, All Might, and you were splendid at it." Naomasa reassured him. "Let us do our job now, and protect it for you."

All Might rose from his seat and walked up to Naomasa. "Naomasa," he whispered, "it won't be just me they're after. You know what I'm talking about, right?"

Naomasa nodded in understanding. As one of the few people who knew the secret of One For All, he knew that there would be a second target in this attack: Izuku Midoriya. "Don't worry, All Might," he assured him, "I'll take care of it."

All Might nodded, grateful for Naomasa's help. _Young Izuku will be safe with Naomasa,_ All Might assured himself, _still, as his teacher I should be the one protecting him._

 _I hate this. I've tried to hide it, tried to deny it, but I hate this._ All Might realized, frustrated with himself. _I hate being powerless._

While the attackers slowly converged on their main target. Gran Torino arrived in front of the Midoriya household. He had jetted to the address as soon as he had left All Might's office, and had only increased in speed as soon as he heard the attack had started.

The dwarvish old man heaved and panted in exhaustion. "I am definitely not built to jet at such speeds for such great distances anymore." He muttered. "Whoever did this just had to attack while I was retired."

He walked up to the front door and knocked. "Mrs. Midoriya?" He called out. "My name is Gran Torino. Could you please let me in? I was asked to protect you?"

He heard no response. He narrowed his eyes, wondering if he was too late and someone already attacked her. _They better not have._ Gran Torino growled inwardly. _I couldn't face the kid if I was too late._

He noticed a window and decided that would be his entrypoint. _This may be breaking and entering, but she'll thank me later...if she's still alive._

Inside the house, Inko Midoriya was holding a large steak knife out in front of her. No way was she going to fall for such an old trick. Why the hell would a pro hero be assigned to protect a mere civilian like her?

There was a loud crash, and then a dwarvish old man came rocketing into her kitchen. Inko screamed in fright, leaping into the air. "Oh, so you are alive." Gran Torino noted with relief. "Good. And it looks like you're savvy enough not to just open your door to anyone in times like these. Guess Deku got his smarts from ya."

"Deku...you mean Izuku, right?" Inko looked at Gran Torino in shock. "How do you know my son?"

"Long story, Ma'am." Gran Torino told her. "But I was indeed asked to come here and protect you, by your son."

"WHAT?!" Inko shrieked. "Why are you here and not with him? Go back to where he is and protect my baby!"

Gran Torino was taken aback by Inko's outburst before smiling. _So selfless,_ he mused, _and here I thought Deku got his stupid heroic spirit from being taught by Toshinori. Guess it was actually inherited._

"Sorry, Mrs. Midoriya, but out of respect for your boy's selflessness, I'm staying here." Gran Torino insisted. "Don't worry though, your son has plenty of people looking out for him. And your son is a hell of a hero too. I would know."

"But my Izuku…" Inko whimpered.

Gran Torino leapt onto the kitchen counter to get up in Inko's face. "...Will be fine, I give you my word as a retired hero." Gran Torino promised. "Ma'am, you should know your son well enough that the drive he has to achieve his goal will see him through any hardships."

"That's the thing, Mr. Torino." Inko's face fell at this, knowing he was right. "He's my son...I don't want him to go through any hardships."

Gran Torino sighed. "I know, Ma'am." He said softly. "I know."

 _Don't you dare die, Deku._ Gran Torino thought to himself. _I'll never forgive you if you make this wonderful mother of yours cry._

Back at UA, a majority of the school faculty, minus the homeroom teachers, were all bravely standing at the front entrance of their school, ready to put down any attackers that came near them. Accompanying them were the Pro Heroes, Mt. Lady, Kamui Woods, and Edgeshot, who had been assigned as guard duty along with several other Pros in the area.

Present Mic was running logistics in the back. "Cementoss, keep creating more defensive walls. Ectoplasm, conserve your energy. We're going to need as many clones as we can get for when these guys come after us."

Present Mic then contacted their lookout on the roof. "Snipe," he said, "how's it looking up there, do you see anything?"

Present Mic heard Snipe breath deeply. "I do, Present Mic," Snipe responded, audibly concerned, "about forty-five villains, charging right up the middle."

"Forty-five?"

"Forty-five, we barely outnumber them." Snipe noted.

That was indeed the case, between the faculty defending the school and the Pros who had been assigned to aid them, they had a force of about fifty at the moment. It looked like it would be a pretty even match.

"Principal Nezu, what's the status of the evacuation?" Present Mic quickly contacted the principal.

"We're still trying to get the students out of the building." Nezu responded.

"Okay, we'll buy you all the time you need." Present Mic promised. He cut the feed and then addressed everyone else. "This is Present Mic, we just got word there are some real bad dudes on their way, and they're definitely not here to pick up the prizes from my last radio contest. Everyone, prepare for battle."

"Snipe," Present Mic contacted the gunslinger-themed hero one last time with a single order, "fire at will."

Snipe nodded, and from his perch on the rooftop he quickly raised his revolver and pulled the trigger. A gunshot rang out, signalling the beginning of this world's battle for survival.

 **A.N: Yeah, I know Gigantomachia is canonically All For One's bodyguard. But are you really going to tell me All For One can't have multiple bodyguards? Anyway, funny thing, each of the Demon Lords are based on the Persona 5 targets. In fact, Gilded King's real surname is a direct reference to the third target, Junya Kaneshiro. As you can clearly tell, I just got done playing the crap out of that game.**

 **Anyway, I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter. I'll see you all next time.**


	8. Chapter 8: Worst Nightmare

**A.N: Sorry this took awhile, had to get this just right. I'm not really the type to put out half-assed work, even if it means keeping with self-imposed deadlines. But frankly, I loved how this turned out. I hope you do too.**

 **Also, for anyone who enjoys my writing and wants to see some original content, check out my profile, because I just added an update for my original novel: Age of Heroes.**

 **Chapter 8: Worst Nightmare**

When gunfire rang out, all hell broke loose. The cultists launched a frontal assault on UA High suddenly broke apart, scattering like petals in the wind. Snipe's eyes widened behind his mask when he realized that not a single one of his bullets hit their target. That was simply impossible.

Snipe's Quirk was known as Homing, meaning he had the power to alter the trajectory of his bullets at will. That means, his Quirk should have been impossible to dodge unless someone had speed comparable to All Might. Or at least, have some sort of power that made the user faster than a speeding bullet.

"Snipe!" He heard Present Mic's voice over the microphone. "Did you bring any of 'em down? How many of them are still coming at us?"

Snipe gulped audibly before responding. "I fired twelve rounds...none of them hit. They're all still coming. I'm sorry."

Present Mic's mouth dropped open, trying to comprehend what he had just heard from Snipe. How Snipe had managed to miss even one, let alone twelve of his shots was something he simply could not comprehend either.

"R-reload and try again." Present Mic said.

"Damn right I'll try again." Snipe managed to steel himself, quickly loading bullets into the chambers of his revolvers. "These bastards ain't getting anywhere near our students!"

Present Mic's spirit was roused by Snipe's resolve. That's right. They had students to protect. They were the teachers and they had to protect them. No way in hell were these guys going to lay a finger on them.

Taking a deep breath, Present Mic stepped away from his logistics duty, surprising everyone who now had their eyes on him. "Present Mic? Yamada?" Ectoplasm tried to call out to him. "Hizashi!"

 _Plus Ultra,_ Present Mic reminded himself, ignoring Ectoplasm's calls, _even if all I can do is slow them down, I'm going to make sure it'll be enough._

"Hold your fire, Snipe." Present Mic contacted Snipe once more through his headset. "I'm going to make 'em easy targets. You better be ready to lay into 'em like a heavy metal guitar solo."

"...Stay safe." Snipe could only say.

Present Mic then watched as the black-cloaked enemies came into view. "Present Mic!" Kamui Woods called out in concern, worried that the man was on a suicide mission, bypassing all of Cementoss' walls.

His fellow pro heroes could only watch in horror as Present Mic took a deep breath. And with that single breath, he bellowed out. "YEAH!"

The soundwaves reverberated across the ground, stopping the cultists dead in their tracks. Snipe's eyes widened behind his mask once more. Present Mic was slowing them down so that he had a clear shot at them. "Present Mic...Yamada...thanks." He said, quickly firing twelve rounds.

Snipe remained as coolheaded as he could as he guided the bullets into the skulls of twelve of the cultists. Snipe hated killing, most pros did. They were heroes, not murderers.

However, this was what happened when Pros were given Wartime Privileges. They got to use their Quirks to kill without legal repercussions. And it disgusted Snipe to no end. But, it was either this or their students suffered. No way was Snipe going to let the latter happen. Neither was Present Mic. He was using his Quirk at a level that was normally viewed as illegal.

"Kamui…" Mt. Lady said softly.

"We're letting ourselves get distracted." Kamui Woods said softly. "Present Mic's going to run out of breath at this rate. Heroes, attack!"

Kamui Woods, Ectoplasm, Mt. Lady and Vlad King led the charge against the attackers, thinking they were going to get a few free attacks in before the cultists could recover. However, at the moment there were thirty-two cultists still standing. Add that to the twelve Snipe had gunned down, and that added up to forty-four.

Forty-four. Snipe had counted forty-five before the battle began. Where was the forty-fifth?

Suddenly, a hand came up from the ground like something emerging from the sea and struck Present Mic's ankle, shattering it easily. Present Mic choked, his voice rattled by the sudden ambush. "Present Mic!" Vlad King yelled in concern.

Suddenly, a dark-haired youth with shark-like teeth leapt into the air. "That voice of yours," he said, "is annoying."

The shark boy threw his fingers forward, striking Present Mic in the throat, breaking through the microphone-like apparatus that he wore around his neck and then crushing his throat easily. Present Mic tried to scream, letting out gasps for air, only to find weak sounds coming out. In a mere second, Present Mic had not only lost his greatest weapon, but had also been taken out of the fight, maybe even permanently.

"No, Present Mic!" Snipe screamed from the rooftop, horrified at the sight of his friend falling to the shark boy.

The shark boy chuckled as he vanished back into the ground. "Damn it!" Vlad King yelled. "An ability to swim underground?"

"We must focus!" Kamui Woods declared. "The enemy is recovering! Here they come again! To arms, heroes!"

"Like hell they will!" Ectoplasm screamed furiously, gazing at Present Mic's fallen form. His mind flashed back to when he lost his legs to a villain in an incident before he became a teacher at UA. "I won't let them get away with this!"

 _Present Mic...Hizashi...your career…_ He realized that if Recovery Girl could not fix his throat, Present Mic's career as a hero was dead in every way. _I WON'T FORGIVE THEM! These sons of bitches are all going to pay for what they did to you!_

Ectoplasm opened his mouth, allowing multiple clones of himself to suddenly pour out and charge the cultists. "This oughta even the odds! Take this you monsters!" Ectoplasm screamed with righteous fury on behalf of his fallen friend.

Then, a single cultist stepped in front of his comrades. "Clones? Really?" He mocked. "No matter how special you think that kind of power is, they burn just like everything else! Wildfire!"

The leading cultist's arm suddenly ignited in a mighty blaze as the clones were incinerated by a powerful blast of fire. "Come on, where's that burning spirit you UA folks are famous for!" The fire user demanded, revealing a wild look in his red eyes. "I ain't seeing it yet! You pro heroes are vastly overrated as far as I'm concerned."

"Those flames are insane!" Mt. Lady exclaimed, stopping in her tracks with the rest of her allies. "Is this guy a long lost relative of Endeavor's?"

The fire-using cultist, who was actually a Deacon, chuckled darkly as he aimed his free hand into the sky. "Let's see if they are willing to protect a pile of ashes." He said with sadistic glee. "Hell Meteor!"

The Pro Heroes all watched in horror as fireballs the size of full grown men shot into the sky. Immediately, they all realized when those things arced downwards, they would hit the school. Mt. Lady did not hesitate. "Everyone, get away from me!" She yelled as she began growing to her massive size.

"Oho?" The Fire Deacon grinned in amusement as Mt. Lady grew to the size of a giant to protect the school from his Hell Meteor attack.

Mt. Lady crossed her arms over her face as the fireballs arced downwards. The pros on the ground could only watch in horror as their ally used herself as a human shield to protect the school. Mt. Lady screamed as she was singed all over by the fireballs.

The Fire Deacon applauded sarcastically. "You know what, I'd call that burning spirit right there." He mused before turning to his allies. "Alright, kill 'em all."

As the cultists began to charge forward, Mt. Lady was swaying on her feet, desperately trying to stay up, the woman eventually managed to stay upright, but was still forced to a knee. "Mt. Lady!" Kamui Woods called out in concern.

"Forget me," Mt. Lady said, "I need to...stay like this if that firecracker tries bombing the school again. Don't worry about me, just focus on the villains in front of you."

"Mt. Lady…" Kamui Woods said softly before being cut off by Vlad King.

"Here they come!" He exclaimed.

Kamui Woods saw the Cultists coming towards him and regained his composure. "Evil," he growled, "pure evil. No, you're not just pure evil. Attacking a school of innocent children. Plunging a city into chaos and destruction. You're not just pure evil, you are devils incarnate!"

"Lacquered Chains Prison!" Kamui Woods activated his Quirk, Arbor, to allow wood to sprout out of his body.

Kamui Woods let out a roar of fury, unbefitting someone of his calm stature as he tried to catch the Cultists in his Quirk's Super Move. And afterwards, though he was loathed to do so, he would tighten the bindings and crush them. "Sprig Shower!"

Kamui Woods' eyes widened when his Lacquered Chains Prison was suddenly cut up what appeared to be spiked pieces of wood. _A wood user like me?_ Kamui Woods was stunned at the thought.

"So the number 7 hero really does use wood like little old me." A cultist with a green afro, weirdly reminiscent of the head of a tree, stepped into view, twirling one last spiked piece of wood. "But...the number 7 hero's Quirk seems to be more about capturing rather than fighting? How did a guy who focused less on fighting get to be number 7? Are the other heroes really that pitiful?"

The wood-user chuckled. "Don't tell me," he said, "did you really come here, a fight to the death, with only moves that are designed to capture? Damn, that's sad. Even if you could tighten those wooden chains until the person you've got pops, there's no way you can beat us. We live and breath by taking the lives of others."

The wood-user then appeared in front of Kamui Woods, stabbing at him with the spike. Kamui Woods barely managed to avoid the attack, but was still cut across the chest.

Vlad King, meanwhile, acted quickly. He immediately attacked the nearest Cultist with his Quirk, Blood Control, encasing him in a wrapping of blood. His opponent was a pale young man with white hair and red eyes who only had one word to say about this. "Gross," he said.

"You have no right to complain about this, brat." Vlad King glowered at the young Acolyte. "Your people attacked us, started this whole damn war."

"War? War's not exactly the right word." The Acolyte noted.

"Well, the media's reluctant to call it such, but I'm calling it exactly like it is. It's a war, and you bastards are the invading force. And I'm going to do everything I can to drive you back to whatever dark corner of this world you came out of." Vlad King vowed.

This made the albino Acolyte laugh. "You think we came from here? From some deep dark corner of your world's seedy underworld? That wretched hive of scum and villainy?"

"Wrong!" The Acolyte yelled as Vlad King's blood suddenly froze around the Acolyte.

"You couldn't be further from the mark!" The Acolyte exclaimed as the frozen blood shattered. "From this world? Don't make me laugh! Like we'd ever want a home we'd just turn into a dead wasteland!"

 _What's this kid's deal?_ Vlad King frantically wondered. _He looks like he's the age of a third year at UA. No one his age should be this disturbed in the head. And he's got some sort of ice power like that Todoroki._

"Now, let me ask you something," diamonds of ice appeared around the albino, "can you control that blood of yours when it's forced from your body?!"

"Hail Fangs!" The albino shouted.

Vlad King was almost immediately forced on the defensive as he was assaulted from every angle by the attack. "As I was saying, war's not the right word. Try 'slaughter.'" Said the albino. "War implies a struggle. This will be no real struggle."

Elsewhere, Ectoplasm let out a yell as he was kicked into the school wall by the explosive force of a single kick. "Pitiful," said a second Deacon in the bunch of attacking Cultists, "you had so much vigor, life and passion in you when you had set your small little army of clones on us. But as soon as Kaji incinerated them all, you lost that vigor. Are Quirks really that limiting? I had really hoped the people relied on as heroes would have more than this."

Ectoplasm did indeed have a limit to the amount of clones he could expel to fight with him. He was a fool. He had been so caught up in the moment, trying to help Present Mic, he did not even account for his limits, or the destructive force of the enemy. And now he was paying the price. He was helpless against this monster's power.

"Quirks sound...useless for lack of a better term." Ectoplasm's enemy noted. "What's the point of having power if you're that limited? Frankly, it appears there really is no point. Power is worthless if it's limited."

The deacon leapt towards Ectoplasm. "You're almost not worth killing." He seemed to lament, pulling his fist back. "Almost."

Ectoplasm could only close his eyes as he was hit point blank by an explosive punch from the deacon. "Now then," the deacon continued as Ectoplasm was sent right through a wall, "let's wrap this up quickly. The sooner we get rid of the rabble, the sooner we can get to uprooting the next generation of so-called heroes."

"I won't let you!" The deacon instinctively leapt above a sudden sneak attack from the number 4 Pro Hero, Edgeshot.

"Oho?" The deacon seemed surprised at the sneak attack. "I...somewhat take back what I said. That power of yours...weirdly seems dangerous."

"You will not be allowed to proceed any further!" Edgeshot declared. "We, the pros of the current generation, are willing to give our lives to insure the future of the next generation! It is the duty of the old to pave the way for the new, in hopes they will improve the world and surpass us in success!"

The deacon just chuckled at that statement. "Well, you're right about one thing." He admitted. "You will give your lives. Unfortunately, it will all be for nothing, we will make sure of that. You will become nothing but another addition to our holy crusade."

" _Daima, what is the status of your assault on UA High?"_ A smooth, familiar female voice addressed him via telepathy.

" _Bishop Ibuki, what a pleasant surprise."_ Daima responded. _"For the most part, our attack is proceeding smoothly. However, these heroes are proving to be like cockroaches. My apologies, but you may get done long before we have completed our own holy slaughter."_

" _Daima, Daima, Daima, you know I care very little for such things."_ Ibuki promised. _"Our endeavors are not meant to have a time limit. Just that we succeed."_

Daima chuckled. _"I couldn't agree more, Bishop Ibuki."_ He cut the connection before turning his attention back to Edgeshot.

On the other side of UA High, the young students all gasped at the sounds of battle. "This is insane." Minoru Mineta fearfully muttered, visibly trying to stop himself from collapsing in fear. "Why the hell are they attacking the school? What the hell did we do to piss these guys off so much?"

"They don't intend to wipe out the next generation of heroes, do they?" Momo Yaoyorozu wondered. "Don't they realize that's practically a declaration of war on all of Japan? UA's a symbol of the hero community, especially in Japan. For them to attack it…"

"Eyes forward, everyone." Class 1A's homeroom teacher, Shota Aizawa calmly told them. "Focus on evacuating."

"Hey, Mr. Aizawa," Mina Ashido spoke up, "where are we going, anyway?"

"Someplace safe." Aizawa responded. "UA has always had safehouses just in case the worst possible situation occurred."

"Umm...has the worst possible situation ever occurred before?" Denki Kaminari inquired curiously.

"No." Aizawa responded curtly.

Izuku Midoriya gazed at Aizawa and gasped when he noticed the angry and frustrated look in Aizawa's usually deadpan gaze. This attack was not only infuriating him, but it was also frustrating him how he could not help his fellow heroes. He knew he had to protect his students and he would do that. But those were Aizawa's coworkers, his friends. And they were fighting to the death right now.

 _I guess things really are bad if things are eating at Mr. Aizawa._ Izuku realized. _Oh man...this really is a nightmare._

Tenya Iida noticed how tense Izuku seemed and patted him on the shoulder. "Midoriya," he said comfortingly, "believe in our teachers. They are pros too."

Izuku nodded. "I...I know, Iida. And I do believe in them. They'll win."

 _I wish I could 100% believe that._ Izuku added inwardly. _But the Seven Demon Lords. Those seven villains were among the most powerful villains in existence. And if they're out and about and acting on All For One's orders...and if part of his orders are coming after me, then they'll come after the school...and I don't think anyone at UA's got the Quirks to stop them._

Izuku managed to do a good job at hiding how frustrated he felt. _I hate this, if they're after me, I should be out there risking my life. But...I know that I'm being selfish too. I know that if I do die...then we're all doomed. I guess...this is what it means to truly have the role of Symbol of Peace being placed on your shoulder. Constantly thinking about your own mortality, God, is this what All Might went through every day?_

"Midoriya?" Tenya noticed how deep in thought Izuku was. "What's wrong?"

"S-sorry, Iida." Izuku gave Tenya a smile. "I guess...I'm just overthinking things again. You'd think I'd grow out of that, especially with how serious things are right now."

Tenya was about to ask just what it was Izuku had been thinking about, when Izuku was suddenly grabbed by the shoulder. Izuku tensed for a moment before he saw it was. Naomasa Tsukauchi gave Izuku his usual friendly smile. "I know how bad things are, but it's good to see you, Midoriya." Naomasa told him.

"Detective Tsukauchi, what are you doing here?" Izuku asked.

Naomasa leaned in. "I'm sorry, Midoriya, you need to come with me, right now. All Might wants you taken elsewhere."

Izuku's eyes widened. "I know, I'm making you look more suspicious, and I'm sorry about that." Naomasa apologized genuinely. "But after everything that happened, I had no choice. Now come on, we have to get you as far away from here as possible."

"Midoriya, what's going on, why is a police detective speaking with you?" Tenya demanded, frantically trying to figure out why the police suddenly seemed so interested in Izuku.

Naomasa then addressed Aizawa. "Mr. Aizawa, I apologize, but I'm going to have to take Midoriya with me. Special request from a certain someone."

Aizawa briefly narrowed his eyes. "I don't like the idea of one of my students being separated from class at times like this." He bluntly told Naomasa before sighing. "But, I've got a feeling as to who it is, so I'll allow it."

"Huh, but Mr. Aizawa!" Ochaco Uraraka clearly hated the idea of Izuku being separated from the rest of class too. "Our class should be sticking together! Deku separating from us…"

"Special request, Uraraka." Aizawa responded, shaking his head, "I don't like it anymore than you do, but Midoriya will be safe with the police. We need to trust Detective Tsukauchi."

"Let me go too!" Tenya spoke up. "Please, let me accompany you and Midoriya!

"Iida, right?" Naomasa frowned. "I'm sorry, but I can't allow that. I'm here to escort Midoriya, and including you would just complicate things. I'm sorry, but…"

"Midoriya is my friend and my buddy in the buddy system we created for this situation." Tenya responded. "Please, I couldn't forgive myself if I let my buddy out of my sight!"

Naomasa sighed. "Damn it, we don't have time for this." He muttered.

Izuku gazed at how serious Tenya seemed. He also gazed at his classmates, who were looking at him with a mixture of emotions. Namely, worry, wonder and betrayal. He then came to a decision. He could trust Tenya.

"Detective, let Iida come with us." Izuku said.

"Huh? Midoriya, are you sure?" Naomasa looked at Izuku in surprise

"Please, Detective, Iida is my friend." Izuku pleaded. "I can trust him."

Naomasa sighed. "Midoriya," he said, "I'm sure you trust him, but you do realize if you tell him, he'll be a target too."

"Target?" Tenya looked at the two in disbelief.

"At this point, Detective...I kinda feel like we're all a target." Izuku admitted. "I...I don't think it really matters at this point."

"Can't argue with that." Naomasa muttered. "Okay, Iida, you come with us."

Tenya nodded. "Midoriya," he said to his friend, "I hope you intend to explain to me why you suddenly have a police escort."

"Iida," Izuku replied, "I'll only tell you as much as you want to know."

"Yaoyorozu," Tenya turned to Momo, "keep the rest of the class safe and together."

Momo nodded. "You two stay safe too." She said. "Midoriya, I don't know why all of this is happening, but you both better contact us as soon as it's safe."

"Alright, enough," Aizawa cut in, "I get that everyone wants to tell Midoriya and Iida to stay safe, but we all need to get out of here and get to the safehouses."

One by one, Class 1A worriedly left Tenya and Izuku with Naomasa. Katsuki Bakugou and Eijirou Kirishima were the last to leave, with Katsuki giving Izuku a knowing nod. Izuku, knowing what Katsuki was saying to him with that wordless message, nodded right back.

"Hey, Bakugou," Eijirou spoke up, "is...there something you know about Midoriya that you're not telling the class and me?"

Katsuki sighed. "Kirishima," he said, "whether you end up knowing or not is for Deku to decide. But if he decides not to tell you anything, you all need to respect that, got it?"

"But Bakugou, we're all friends, aren't we?" Eijirou asked, sounding hurt.

"It ain't about whether we're friends or not, Kirishima." Katsuki shook his head. "It's just that Deku's been saddled with something huge. Something he can't just go around sharing freely. If you are his friend, you need to respect that and not bring it up until he decides it's best to tell you."

"You're...surprisingly calm right now." Eijirou pointed out.

"Just shut up or die." Katsuki told him without any fire behind that statement at all.

With that, the remaining 18 students of Class 1-A followed Aizawa to their evacuation bus. "Everyone keep moving!" Momo ordered. "And remember to stay with your buddy at all times!"

Ochaco looked back, as if desperately wishing Tenya and Izuku would just show up and it was all some bad, poorly timed joke. "Ochaco," Tsuyu Asui spoke up, "Midoriya and Iida are not coming back."

"But...I just don't understand," Ochaco admitted, "why did the police want Deku so badly."

Tsuyu hummed thoughtfully as she boarded the bus with Ochaco following close behind. "I don't know," she admitted, "I don't think he's done anything to attract police attention...except for when he went to save Bakugou with Momo, Iida, Kirishima and Todoroki."

As Tsuyu took her seat, she addressed the other three who had gone to save Bakugou that night. "Kirishima, Todoroki, Momo, did Midoriya do anything that might have attracted the police's attention?"

"No way, Midoriya's not like that at all." Eijirou shook his head, still concerned about what Katsuki had said to him. "And even if he had attracted some kind of attention, they'd have had to take all five of us in for questioning. And they weren't even going to take Iida with them."

"Yeah, not until Iida had begged to come along." Momo noted.

Shoto Todoroki seemed in deep thought, something Hanta Sero took notice. "What's going on in that head of yours, Todoroki?" Hanta asked curiously.

"Did anyone else notice how that detective was the same man who had been involved in the USJ incident? The one who had done a head count and then went to see All Might?" Shoto pointed out. "Didn't he specifically ask for All Might's location?"

"You know, now that you mention it…" Momo trailed off.

"You've got a hell of a memory, Todoroki." Eijirou complimented.

"All Might and Midoriya were both placed under Recovery Girl's care. And when that detective went to see All Might...then it would stand to reason he ended up seeing Midoriya too." Shoto deduced.

"Yeah, but what does that have to do with anything?" Hanta wondered.

"This has been something that's always intrigued me." Shoto admitted. "Even back then, All Might always seemed to be in Midoriya's corner. Didn't you all notice that as well."

"I mean, I did." Tsuyu admitted. "But I always brushed it off as the two having similar Quirks. Beyond that, it just didn't seem worth looking into."

"At the time, I did too." Shoto admitted. "And then I thought Midoriya was All Might's secret love child or something."

"Scandalous!" Ochaco let out a gasp. "A secret love child of all things?"

"But the more things happen...the more I can't help but feel even more suspicious that it's something even deeper than that." Shoto continued.

"Like what?" Eijirou asked curiously.

Shoto sighed. "I still can't put my finger on it." He admitted. "But...I think there's a connection between All Might and Midoriya that goes far beyond a teacher and student at UA. They seem even closer than that, like a master and apprentice almost."

"A master and apprentice?" Eijirou grinned. "Imagine that, Midoriya being All Might's apprentice. No wonder he's so manly."

"I think...we need to ask Midoriya what's really going on." Momo concluded. "I don't think he's keeping anything malicious from us. But at this point, I feel like he owes us some sort of explanation. He is our classmate and our friend. He has to tell us the truth."

"He doesn't owe you anything." Everyone turned to Katsuki in shock.

"But, we're his friends, Bakugou." Ochaco pointed out.

"And that's exactly why he doesn't owe any of you jack." Katsuki pointed out. "Deku's not the type to keep dark secrets. If he is keeping secrets, he's got a good reason for it."

"You know what he's hiding." Shoto immediately caught on.

Katsuki sighed. "Just like I said to Kirishima. He'll tell you only if he wants to tell you." He said firmly. "But if you guys are his friends, you need to accept it if he doesn't. Remember, this is Deku you guys are talking about. Not some damn evil mastermind."

"Look, just trust me on this." Katsuki sighed. "Deku's got a hell of a burden. And honestly, him telling you is only gonna add to it. He took a big enough risk telling me, and he only did it because he felt like he had no choice. Don't force the poor bastard to add to that burden of his. It'll just turn him into more of an annoying nervous wreck."

Ochaco's eyes widened in realization. _This must be serious if even Bakugou is worried about Deku._

"Holy crap, the school is on fire!" Everyone was cut from their thoughts at the sound of Minoru Mineta's frantic scream.

"Oh my God…" Rikido Sato muttered in terror.

Everyone pressed their faces against the nearest window and went pale. Their beloved school was indeed on fire. "Everyone! Eyes forward!" Aizawa yelled.

Everyone looked at Aizawa in disbelief. Aizawa had a dead serious look on his face. "Do not look back, do you understand?" Aizawa told them. "You are the future of heroics. You cannot hope to progress if you only look back. Keep moving forward, no matter how horrible the past is. Plus Ultra."

Everyone gasped. They realized that this was Aizawa's way of trying to make sure they were not traumatizing themselves by staring at the burning hell that was their school. _Everything is falling apart._ Ochaco realized. _It's like the whole world is going to hell. Deku, Iida, please stay safe you two._

Meanwhile, All Might found himself surrounded by the armed guards that made up his armed convoy. The former Symbol of Peace remained silent, in a somber mood as he sat in his truck. Two armed men sat right next to him.

The younger member of the guard gave All Might a small smile. "Don't worry, All Might." He said reassuringly. "We'll make sure you stay safe. We're going to get you to your safehouse."

All Might smiled weakly. "Don't worry, I believe in you guys." He said.

 _I hate this,_ All Might added inwardly, _going to protecting everyone to becoming someone who needs to be protected. Even though it destroyed me...I still was proud to be the one everyone could count on, the one who could serve as the Symbol of Peace that made everyone safe and happy._

 _I...I wish I had One For All again. God, I'm so selfish...but this world still needs me. Izuku needs me to help him so that he can take over when he's ready, not be forced into this role._

 _I hate this...God I hate this...if there is a God...please find it in your heart to grant me strength once more._ All Might pleaded. _Grant me the right to be the Symbol of Peace...for just a little longer._

 _For the world's sake...for Izuku's sake. Please...let me be the Symbol of Peace again…_

All Might was cut from his prayers when the car suddenly jerked to the side. "The front car!" The driver frantically yelled. "Oh God, Kuninobu and the others! They couldn't have survived that."

All Might looked out the window and gasped, seeing the car that had been in front, crushed by what appeared to be a massive anvil. "Where did that come from?" All Might wondered before he was pushed down by one of his guards.

"Head down, All Might!" The guard that had grabbed him yelled. "They've found us!"

"How?" The other frantically wondered. "Was it leaked? Did someone sell us out?"

Unable to see now, All Might could only hear another loud boom. "Crap! Akamatsu's truck behind us was just taken out!" One of his guards yelled.

"What kind of Quirk is that?" The other wondered. "I can't see the attacker, so you'd think it's like an invisibility Quirk or a flying Quirk. But whoever it is, is also dropping giants weights on us! So do they also have some kind of super strength Quirk or kinesis Quirk?"

All Might's eyes widened. Was it All For One? Were he and Gran Torino wrong? Was All For One already active once more?

"Oki, get us out of here, now!" The first guard yelled at the driver.

Above the car, a lean, floating individual, oddly dressed as a magician, giggled madly at the carnage he was causing. Suddenly, a portal opened up next to him and he reached inside. "And now for my next trick," he said, before yanking out another massive anvil, "I'm going to make another car crash appear! Nothing up my sleeve, and presto!"

With that dark declaration, the magician spun around before tossing the anvil at the car with All Might inside. "Incoming!" One of All Might's guards yelled.

Oki the driver swerved to avoid the impact. However, the sudden swerve caused him to lose control of the car. The car crashed into a nearby building. All Might was briefly left in a daze by the impact, only to be suddenly grabbed by one of his guards. "Get out and keep your head down!" He yelled.

The second guard stepped out and finally saw their attacker: the magician. "Weapons free!" The guard yelled, firing at the magician. The magician chuckled and opened up a portal that the bullets vanished inside of. "A spatial-based Quirk too? I didn't even think those existed!" The guard yelled. "What the hell is he?"

Meanwhile, All Might was dragged along by the first guard. "Oki, come on!" The guard called out to the dazed driver. "We've gotta continue on foot!"

Clutching his head, Oki managed to get himself out of the car. "R-right…" He muttered, audibly dazed.

As the guard frantically moved All Might, he spoke into his radio. "Mayday, mayday, this is Lt. Yamamoto." He frantically said into his radio. "Convoy carrying Sunlight has been attacked. Package is safe, but we need to continue on foot. We're at the corner of Yabin and Hasu! Can you send backup!"

"We'll try, Lieutenant, but the police are swamped all over the city. Between crowd control, evacuations and searching for survivors, we're spread insanely thin." Came the response.

"Damn it, I have a priority one package here!" Yamamoto yelled. "Try, or we're all dead!"

"Motobuchi!" Yamamoto called out to the other guard. "Fall back, we can't fight this guy!"

Motobuchi was slowly backing up, keeping his gun trained on the magician. "And now for my next trick," the magician said with a cruel smile, "I'm going to make a fly disappear. Nothing up my sleeve, and presto!"

The magician reached into a portal and pulled out yet another anvil. Motobuchi went pale. "Oh God…" he muttered, realizing what was about to happen.

The magician effortlessly tossed the anvil at Motobuchi. Motobuchi closed his eyes and waited. "Motobuchi!" Yamamoto yelled as his subordinate was crushed by the anvil.

"No…" All Might muttered, horrified at the death of Motobuchi. He looked so young. Just a kid compared to him…

"Damn it," Yamamoto managed to steel himself, "we're getting out of here. Oki, All Might, let's go!"

The magician then noticed who Yamamoto and Oki were escorting and his lips curled into a twisted smile. "Ah, it appears I've hit the jackpot today." He mused. "Rejoice, former Symbol of Peace, you are about to become part of my greatest trick."

"I'm going to make the great All Might disappear forever, and then I'm going to present your head and make my promotion to Bishop appear!"

While All Might was forced to run for his life, the bus carrying Class 1-A was forced to a sudden stop. Shota Aizawa narrowed his eyes in frustration. "The hell is this?" He demanded, walking up to the bus driver. "Why did we stop? We need to get these kids as far away from the city as possible."

"I know, sir." The bus driver nodded. "But look!"

Everyone looked ahead to see that a massive stone wall had sprouted up in the street, blocking their way. Aizawa's eyes widened, immediately realizing what was wrong. "Reverse, reverse, reverse!" He yelled.

The bus driver put his vehicle in reverse, only to find, with horror, that behind him, a stone wall had already sprouted up. "We're trapped!" He exclaimed.

"You can't be serious!" Aizawa growled. "Did they single us out?"

"Hey, Mr. Aizawa," the bus driver pointed ahead, "I see someone."

Aizawa turned ahead to see a lone, black-robed figure. Suddenly, several spikes of ice appeared around him. Aizawa's eyes widened. "Get down!" He yelled to his students as several spikes of ice suddenly flew forward.

The students of Class 1-A yelled in fright as they threw themselves to the floor, covering their heads. Aizawa himself had barely managed to avoid the attack. However, he did feel one spike cut across his back. Sadly, the bus driver was not so lucky. He had been trapped by his seatbelt and has been unable to escape in time. He was turned into an icy pincushion as a result.

Aizawa looked up to see the cockily smirking assailant. Suddenly, he was joined by other similarly dressed individuals. Steeling himself for what he knew he had to do, Aizawa rose up and pulled down his goggles. It was time for Eraserhead to go to work.

"Everyone stay inside." He said. "Wait for your opportunity to escape. Bakugou can either blow up the walls, or Yaoyorozu can create ropes. I don't care what you do. Just wait for your chance to get out of here and take it. And don't forget to stick together."

"But what about you, Mr. Aizawa?" Toru Hagakure asked worriedly.

"I'm going to do my job." Aizawa told them before adding gently. "Stay alive, all of you."

With that, Aizawa leapt out of the bus from the destroyed windshield and landed on the hood. He glared at the four attackers. "What the hell is wrong with you people?" He demanded. "Don't you know this is a school bus? There are kids in here!"

One of the new arrivals, a bulking man with a build that made him almost look like a cinder block, just laughed at that statement. "Men, women, children, I don't think you realize who you're dealing with." He proclaimed. "Our faith discriminates against no one. All we see shall be cleansed in the name of our god."

Aizawa did not like the sound of that…

"What Ishimura is trying to say," the ice-user, a woman with snow-white hair styled in a punkish look, "is that we're here to kill _everyone_ we come across. And _everyone_ includes children."

"Then as a hero, it's my job to stop you." Aizawa growled. "There's no way in hell I'm letting any of you lay a finger on my students."

And with that, Aizawa trained his gaze on all four attackers. The ice-user tried to activate her ice powers and skewer Aizawa, only to be surprised when her abilities failed to manifest. "My Art isn't working?" She frowned before noticing that her teammates were experiencing similar effects. She immediately realized what was happening. "Scatter! He's suppressing our Arts!"

Ishimura and the other two Cultists quickly sped away. Aizawa quickly unrolled his Capturing Weapon from his neck and tossed it towards one of the cultists, a lean man with six dots tattooed on his forehead and pierced ears that held earrings.

Aizawa then threw a kick straight at the ice-user's face. _Her surprise will allow me to deal a decisive blow right off the bat._ Aizawa noted. _But even if she is able to dodge or block my kick, my Capturing Weapon will wrap around the other villain and allow me to throw him into her._

Aizawa, admittedly, did want to end the ice-user quickly. He saw her as the biggest threat due to how easily she had turned the bus into a frozen pincushion. Then, much to his slight frustration, the ice-user caught his kick with ease. "That Quirk of yours is a bit frustrating. I didn't realize there was someone out there who could erase Arts as well."

This caught Aizawa off guard. Arts? No one had ever referred to Quirks as Arts before. Even Destro had referred to Quirks as Superpowers. Just who were these people?

Recomposing himself, Aizawa waited for his Capturing Weapon to wrap around the earring-Cultist, only to feel no added weight. He looked off to the side and gasped. The earring-Cultist had actually avoided his Capturing Weapon. Not many had ever managed a feat such as that.

 _How fast was he going?_ Aizawa wondered.

The ice-user then gripped Aizawa's ankle and tossed him to the ground, making him grunt in pain. "You didn't think it would be that easy, do you, you stupid bastard?" She taunted. "I guess you did, considering in your world, your lame-ass Quirks are your only weapon. But see, we're different. Our bodies, our very souls, every fiber of our being is a part of our weapon!"

"No way in hell can a bunch of lame-ass one-trick ponies like you losers ever hope to challenge us." The ice-user declared. "It actually pisses me off. I bet the others got way more fun worlds to exterminate."

 _More fun worlds? What is she talking about?_ Aizawa wondered.

 _Damn it, I can't think of that right now. I need to create an opening for my students to get away._ Aizawa reprimanded himself. _I've still got time before Erasure needs to recharge. I need to use it wisely._

"I've got news for you." Aizawa said defiantly. "You can't be a hero if you've only got one trick up your sleeve!"

With that, Aizawa whipped his Capturing Weapon forward. The ice-user instinctively reared back, dodging as the Capturing Weapon moved across her eyes, obscuring her vision. _Let her think I've still got her powers cancelled._ Aizawa noted, before turning his attention to Ishimura and the fourth cultist, a small girl with hair that was actually rainbow colored. _Then focus your attention on the others. Keep them off guard so they can't use their powers. That'll give the opening the students need to get out!_

The rainbow-haired girl's attention was trained on the students, only to discover her Art was not activating again. "That hobo-looking guy again?" She exclaimed in frustration, turning to Aizawa, who leapt to his feet.

Aizawa wrapped his Capturing Tape around the ice-user's neck, flipping her over and onto her back. While she recovered, Aizawa prepared to rush Ishimura and rainbow-hair.

Back on the bus, Momo saw the opening she was waiting for. "Everyone off the bus!" She ordered her classmates. "Bakugou! Lead the way and blow up the wall!"

"We're seriously gonna leave Mr. Aizawa?!" Mina Ashido was horrified at the notion.

"Mr. Aizawa's risking his life so we can escape." Momo pointed out. "We can't make it for nothing! Now come on!"

The ice-user got to her feet, glaring at Aizawa. "Okay, that's it." She snarled. "Nanaba!"

The earring-Cultist known as Nanaba appeared at the ice-user's side. He then generated a six-sided dice that he telekinetically tossed at Aizawa. The dice landed at Aizawa's feet., catching him off guard. It showed a one.

"The hell?" Aizawa could only say before he was suddenly enveloped in a concussive blast.

Class 1-A, whom had all managed to get off the bus, noticed their teacher's distress and stopped. "Mr. Aizawa!" Mina yelled in concern.

Katsuki tried to ignore Mr. Aizawa's situation and focused on the stone wall. "Damn it," he cursed in frustration before blasting the wall.

"Nice shot!" Eijirou complimented.

"But not good enough." Ishimura made his presence known, walking up to the students.

The smoke cleared, and it was revealed that Katsuki had indeed blown a hole in the wall, only for it to fill up almost immediately. "Oh bullcrap!" Katsuki screamed.

"Is that like Cementoss' Quirk?" Eijirou wondered.

"Impressive, eh?" Ishimura chuckled. "I can manipulate the earth. As long as you brats are in my domain, no one's escaping from this place alive."

Aizawa recovered from Nanaba's surprise attack and saw his students in peril. "Damn it, no!" He yelled, trying to cancel out Ishimura's Art, only to discover that he had reached his limit.

"Red Light!" Aizawa was suddenly enveloped in a beam of red light. His body almost immediately froze in place.

"What the hell is this?" Aizawa demanded.

"My Art, Colors." Rainbow-hair revealed. "And now that I've got you, you're not going anywhere, Hobo-Man."

"Hey, Yukiko!" Rainbow-hair called out to the ice-user. "If you want to kill this guy, now's your chance. I've got him locked in place for ya."

Yukiko chuckled as she advanced on Aizawa. "Bravo, Nijimi." She complimented. "I guess in poor Mr. Goggles' case, being a teacher was his kryptonite."

"Oh no, Mr. Aizawa's in trouble!" Ochaco exclaimed.

"We've gotta help him!" Mezo Shoji immediately suggested.

"How?" Denki Kaminari spoke up. "We'd have to get through the freaking earth-guy first before we have any chance at helping Mr. Aizawa."

"But Mr. Aizawa told us to escape!" Minoru pointed out.

"Leaving Mr. Aizawa to die is out of the question too!" Kyoka Jiro shot back.

Meanwhile, Katsuki tried to think through a strategy, staring at the stone wall before him. _We need to get out of here, but we can't leave Mr. Aizawa to die either._ He noted. _Even though we've got the advantage in numbers, these guys have us beat in pure skill, I can tell that much. But still, with our numbers, we should be able to at least hold them back long enough for help to arrive._

And with that, Katsuki went to work. "Oi, Uraraka, Asui, scale the wall and bring back help!" He yelled.

"What?" Ochaco gasped in shock. "And leave the rest of you?"

"We can buy enough time for you to come back with backup." Katsuki claimed. "No way in hell is the future number one hero not going to make sure that we _all_ leave here alive."

Katsuki turned his attention to Ishimura. "Now go!" He yelled at Tsuyu and Ochaco.

"Ochaco," ever the voice of reason, Tsuyu spoke up, "Bakugou's right. We have to leave, but we can't abandon Mr. Aizawa either. We'll come back with help."

Ochaco realized this was indeed the best way for everyone to escape alive and nodded. "Okay, let's go Tsu!" Ocahco quickly tapped herself and leapt into the air, floating with her Zero Gravity Quirk.

Tsuyu, meanwhile, used her Frog Quirk to speedily scale the wall. Ishimura frowned. "Hey, Nijimi!" He called out. "Mind using your Red Light to stop those two?"

"I can't, idiot!" Nijimi indignantly yelled. "I can only use one at a time on a single target."

"Then I guess they're just going to have to escape." Ishimura sighed. "Oh well, eighteen out of twenty, including that bus driver and the teacher, ain't bad."

"I do not like this at all." Minoru wailed.

"Bakugou, are you sure about this?" Momo asked.

"If we just try to run, we're only going to get caught by these guys." Katsuki calmly stepped up to the front of his classmates. "Time to stand firm, losers. Let's prove our worth as future pros."

"Now that's what I'm talking about!" Eijirou immediately hardened his body. "Now we're all thinking like men!"

As Class 1-A's remaining students prepared to stand firm against Ishimura and Nanaba, who was joining his fellow Cultist, Aizawa snarled at his students disobeying him. "You damn fools." He muttered.

"Aww, how sweet, they stayed to help." Yukiko laughed. "I guess that means I should execute you now. Make it all for nothing. Plunge them into the despair of knowing their decision only hastened their end."

Yukiko generated a large ice spike. "I think I'll drive this right through your eye, hero. Those goggles won't be able to stop me."

"Hagakure!" Everyone suddenly heard Momo yell out, catching Yukiko's attention.

"Light Refraction!" Yukiko and Nijimi were suddenly blinded by sudden beams of light. Toru Hagakure had bent light through her invisible body, reflecting the light right into their eyes.

Ishimura and Nanaba were briefly taken aback as well, having also been hit by Toru's Light Refraction attack. Katsuki and Shoto both used this as an opportunity to attack. "You're absolutely certain about doing this?" Shoto asked. "This could mean our death you know."

"I don't see you hesitating, Icy Hot." Katsuki grinned.

Katsuki struck first, slamming his palm straight into the stomach of Nanaba. Nanaba grunted in surprise as an explosion blasted him away from Katsuki.

Meanwhile, Ishimura recovered in time to be enveloped by a burst of flames from Shoto. To use the half of his Quirk he had hated for so long could only mean that Shoto intended to go all out right from the start.

Meanwhile, Aizawa managed to get free from Red Light due to Nijimi's drop in concentration. He quickly wrapped his Capturing Weapon around Nijimi and tossed her right into Yukiko, knocking them both to the ground. He took this opportunity to regroup with his students.

"You disobedient brats!" Aizawa yelled in frustration. "What were you thinking?"

"I'm so sorry, Mr. Aizawa." Momo bowed in apology. "We just couldn't leave you."

"And just for the record, Teach." Katsuki grinned as he and Shoto prepared to resume their assault. "We were _thinking_ that we're heroes too!"

Yukiko and Nijimi both rose to their feet. Yukiko gave an outright murderous glare straight at the remaining members of Class 1-A and Aizawa. "Fine then!" She yelled with fury. "Let's paint this whole damn area with their freaking guts!"

With that, the cultists prepared to go back on the attack…

While their classmates and homeroom teacher found themselves fighting for their lives, Izuku Midoriya and Tenya Iida found themselves sitting inside Naomasa Tsukauchi's unmarked squad car, silent, unable to bring themselves to say anything to each other.

However, Izuku did find it easy to speak with Naomasa about the situation around them. "Why isn't traffic congested right now?" He asked curiously. "Shouldn't people be trying to get out of the city?"

Naomasa gave a grim sigh. "The attack was so sudden." He admitted. "It caught us off guard. The police and the military are practically scrambling to try and gain some semblance of order in the evacuation. But everyone's spread thin because of the attacks."

"What about the other heroes?" Izuku asked curiously. "Shouldn't they be holding the line?"

"Midoriya," Naomasa said sadly, "according to the last report I got from HQ, we've already lost contact with several teams of pros."

Naomasa left it at that. But it was enough for Izuku to fully understand and appreciate the gravity of this horrible situation. "Oh my God…" he muttered in terror and disbelief, feeling sick to his stomach.

Naomasa looked at his side mirror to see the burning city behind him. "It looks like the freaking apocalypse out there." He muttered.

At that moment, Tenya finally spoke up. "Midoriya," he said softly, "what in the world is going on here?"

"Iida…" Izuku trailed off, uncertain of how to approach this.

"The world seems like it's under attack by monsters." Tenya pointed out. "Our school is being attacked. Our classmates could very well be in grave danger for all we know. Tartarus was broken into. And for some reason, you need a police escort."

"Midoriya," Tenya looked at Izuku in a mixture of confusion and betrayal, "what is going on here? What are you hiding from me?"

Izuku looked sad at Tenya's expression. He hated seeing him like that. "Iida," he said, "I swear to you, I never meant to hurt anyone by keeping this a secret from you. I had to keep it a secret. You've got to believe me when I tell you that."

"Midoriya," Naomasa spoke up sternly, "are you absolutely certain you want to tell him? You know his life is going to change as soon as you tell him, right? And it's not going to change for the better. If villains find out he knows your secret, he could become a target to get to you."

Izuku froze. That was right. He had almost let it slip. He took a big enough risk in telling Katsuki the truth. Could he risk Tenya's safety too? Or anyone else who suddenly wanted to know why his safety was suddenly a high priority.

Coming to a decision, Izuku decided to leave it up to Tenya. "Iida," he said, completely serious, "I'm going to give you the opportunity to back out. If you say you don't want to know, I'll respect that. But I also expect you to drop the matter yourself."

Tenya looked at Izuku in surprise. He had never seen him this serious before.

"But if you do want to know the truth, I'll tell you everything." Izuku promised. "Or, everything you want to know. I do trust you after all. You're my friend. And I promise, as soon as you decide that's all you want to know, I'll stop there."

Naomasa nodded, satisfied with the way Izuku was handling this. _Kid's got a good head on his shoulders._ He noted.

Tenya thought it over, wondering just what it was that was so serious that Izuku was giving him these kinds of options, giving him the amount of outs he was. Heaving a sigh, Tenya made a decision that would completely alter his very worldview.

"Midoriya, tell me everything." He ordered. "No matter how dark your secret is, and no matter how dangerous, I'm willing to bear the burden."

"Are you absolutely sure, Iida?" Naomasa asked. "I don't think you realize how much of a burden knowing this secret is. We're talking a secret so big that you can literally count on two hands the amount of people who know it. So are you absolutely sure?"

"It's not like I'm some gossiping hen, or I want the thrill of knowing a secret so big." Tenya promised before adding with the utmost sincerity. "I just want to know because Midoriya is my friend. I want to know why he's clearly being burdened by this secret so that I can determine if there's anything I can do to help."

Naomasa could not help but smile. "You've got a hell of a friend there, Midoriya." He told him. "You do everything you can to hold onto him, and every other friend you've got like that. Even if it means telling your secret."

Izuku nodded and smiled at Iida. "Iida...Tenya...thank you." He said. "You have no idea how much that means to me."

"You've always been there for me." Tenya pointed out with a gentle, friendly smile. "Even when I didn't want your help, you simply refused to listen and involved yourself in my problems. What kind of friend would I be if I refused to do the same?"

Izuku then took a deep breath. "Okay," he said, "where do I begin? Probably from the beginning, right?"

"If you think that's best, then yes." Tenya nodded.

Izuku nodded. "Well, I guess I should start with the truth." Izuku held up his right arm. "The truth, Tenya, is that I wasn't born with my Quirk, it was given to me. And with it, a heavy responsibility."

Tenya's eyes widened. "Your Quirk was _given_ to you?" He said in shock. "How is that possible?"

Izuku chuckled humorlessly. "You're just going to have to adjust your reality and accept that it is." He replied.

"And...what kind of heavy responsibility were you given with this Quirk?" Tenya asked curiously, still trying to take in the fact that Izuku was Quirkless once upon a time.

Izuku's expression turned serious. "The responsibility to one day surpass All Might, and take over as the world's Symbol of Peace."

Tenya's eyes widened even further. Naomasa chuckled at Tenya's appearance. "Told you," he said, "no matter how ready you think you are, nobody's ready to hear this."

"I'm still trying to understand one thing though." Tenya admitted. "Why...why were you chosen for this? _Who_ chose you for this? There's more to the story, right?"

"Oh, of course," Izuku promised with a small smile, "sorry, Tenya, I was just trying to get the heavy stuff out of the way early. Then again, this whole story's pretty heavy, so you better brace yourself."

As if responding to Izuku's statement, the car suddenly screeched to a stop. Tenya snapped out of his stupor. "Detective, what was that for?" He demanded.

"Someone's in the road." Naomasa growled, reaching for his handgun just in case. "You kids stay in the car."

Naomasa stepped out of the car and trained his gun on the man in the black robed who seemed to have made his home out in the middle of the road. "Clear the road, now!" Naomasa demanded.

 _His clothing matches the attire of the attackers._ Naomasa worriedly noted. _I don't like this._

"Are you deaf?" Naomasa demanded. "Clear the road! I'm trying to evacuate people from the city!"

"That won't do at all." The robed man shook his head, training the red eyes attached to his deathly white face onto Naomasa. "We are called upon by our god to exterminate all life in this area, and soon this entire world. You leaving would be...problematic."

Izuku and Tenya, having heard the man's declaration, paled in terror. People who wanted to destroy the world and kill everyone who lived in it...those kinds of people were only supposed to exist in movies, manga and other stuff like that. Not in real life.

"So I guess that means you have no problem with me shooting you!" Naomasa yelled.

"You are free to try...just as you are free to fail." The pale-faced man noted before rushing Naomasa.

Naomasa tightened his grip on his gun. _He's charging an armed man without fear._ Izuku noted. _What is he…_

"Detective!" Izuku called out. "Get away from him!"

Naomasa ignored Izuku and fired on the pale man. The bullet went straight into the forehead of the pale man. The pale-faced man's head whipped backwards from the force of the impact. Then, much to Naomasa's horror, the pale-faced man moved his head back forward. He gave Naomasa an unsettling smile. "Too bad," he taunted, "I win."

Naomasa froze in terror at how easily his assailant had shrugged off a bullet to the head. "Detective!" Naomasa was suddenly swept off his feet.

The pale-faced man gasped in slight surprise at how easily Izuku Midoriya had outpaced him. "Tenya, get away from the car!" Izuku yelled to his friend.

Tenya quickly leapt from the other side of the car. Using his Quirk, Engine, he sped to where Izuku and Naomasa were. "What are you kids doing?" Naomasa demanded. "My job is to protect you both! Get out of here, run!"

"I'm sorry, Detective, my body just moved on its own." Izuku admitted. "But...you can't really expect me to just leave you, do you?"

"I do. Midoriya, you're way too important to the world." Naomasa reminded him. "You must live, no matter what!"

"Midoriya?" This caught the pale-faced man's attention. He then grinned eagerly. "Oh, I see now, what a lucky twist of fate on my end. Yes, and that speed does confirm it."

"No," Izuku gasped, hearing that statement, "they really are targeting me?"

"To be honest, I had planned to kill whomever I come across, regardless of who they are. Who you turned out to be really meant nothing to me in the grand scheme of things. But to find out that you are Izuku Midoriya. Well, fate is truly smiling on me today." The Cultist laughed in delight.

"Who are you?" Izuku demanded. "Are you people with All For One?"

"Yes and no," the Cultist admitted, "we have allied with All For One, but the accurate terminology would be that he's with us now."

"We are the Cult of the End, here to wipe bring about glorious Armageddon in the name of our god."

"Cult of the End? I've never heard of a villain group called that." Izuku muttered.

"Don't write us off as a mere villain group, Midoriya." The Cultist told him. "We are so much more than that. We are a church. A faith. Try to be more respectful with that in mind."

"Midoriya, stop talking to him and run!" Naomasa demanded. "I can buy you some time, but you and Iida need to get away from here. Find some cops! Tell them Tsukauchi sent you, and wants you taken to Sanctuary. They'll know what that means!"

Izuku looked down. _In a way, the detective is right._ He admitted. _My life isn't just mine now. It's the world's too. As the next Symbol of Peace...I must live to ensure that I take over for All Might and bring about a peace similar to the one he worked so hard for. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, after all. Sacrificing Detective Tsukauchi...for the sake of what's truly important. That's obvious…_

And with that, green lightning flared up around Izuku's body as he activated One For All. _Like hell it is!_ The normally mild-mannered Izuku furiously thought.

"I am going to be the Symbol of Peace!" Izuku declared. "Just like All Might was before me! And if I can't save one life! No, if I chose not to even try and save a single life, then forget being the Symbol of Peace! I won't even be qualified to call myself a hero if I did something like that!"

"You damn fool…" Naomasa muttered sadly.

"Tenya," Izuku spoke up, "you can flee if you want. I'll buy you some time. Take Detective Tsukauchi with you. It's me this guy is after, so I should be the one risking my life here."

Tenya did not hesitate. "Out of the question," he responded, bravely stepping up to Izuku's side.

"Tenya…"

"We are friends," Tenya reminded Izuku, "I'm not going to leave your side during a time like this...Izuku."

Izuku smiled at Tenya, truly grateful to have found such a wonderful friend. "There's no going back you know." He pointed out. "If you're going to fight with me, knowing the burden I carry…"

"Don't underestimate me, Izuku." Tenya smiled right back. "I'm going to be a great hero too, remember?"

"Sorry," Izuku nodded, "I guess I forgot for a moment."

"Hey, Detective." Naomasa perked up at hearing his title. He looked to see that Izuku was now gazing at him with a reassuring, confident smile. A smile that reminded him of All Might's. A smile that actually managed to put him at ease. "There's no need to worry."

"We're going to save you!" Izuku declared.

 **A.N: The difference between this and FWW is how much more tense WoD is. FWW is focused on the impact of insane fight scenes. While I expect this to have some awesome fights too, this is definitely a far more dark and tense installment, especially the prologue. I personally love how I captured the sense of hopelessness in these fights. And in the middle of it all, a ray of hope in our boy Izuku. Hope everyone enjoyed the chapter.**


	9. Chapter 9: For the Sake of One

**Chapter 9: For the Sake of One**

Izuku Midoriya and Tenya Iida were both quick to put on a brave face as they stood before the pale-faced cultist attacking them. "So, Izuku," Tenya spoke up, "from what you've seen of his abilities, do you think you can come up with an effective plan to beat him?"

"The only thing we know about this guy so far," Izuku responded, "is that his skin is hard enough for bullets to just bounce harmlessly off of him. The only thing we can conclude from that, is that hitting him is going to be quite a pain."

The cultist laughed in amusement at Izuku's statement. "So close, but so far, young Successor." He claimed. "The thing is, it's not my skin that's hard as steel, it's my very skeleton."

 _His skeleton?_ Izuku gazed at the cultist in surprise. _Is he really so confident in his victory that he thinks he can share that information with us freely?_

 _Successor,_ Tenya looked over at Izuku, _Izuku did say something to the effect of his Quirk giving him a great burden. Is this...succession part of his burden?_

Tenya still did not fully understand what was happening and while it all centered around Izuku, but he did understand one thing: Izuku was his friend and he needed his help. That was all there was to it, in the end.

"My name is Kotetsu," the cultist introduced himself before pointing at Tenya, "commit it to memory before you die."

"And I bring you," Kotetsu continued, gesturing to Izuku now, "to my leaders. Oh how proud they will be of me for bringing the fledgling Symbol of Peace to them."

Tenya's eyes widened in shock at Kotetsu's words as he slowly began to put the pieces together. _Fledgling Symbol of Peace...an inherited Quirk...and now that I think of it, All Might seems awfully interested in Izuku's development as a hero...no, it can't be!_

"Tenya!" Izuku cut Tenya out of his thoughts. "We have to focus. I know you still have a lot of questions, but please, save them for after we get out of here alive."

"Are you certain we can?" Tenya asked curiously.

"We will," Izuku promised, "we're going to make sure of it. We're going to take control of our fate and live past this day."

Kotetsu laughed. "I welcome you to try, Midoriya." He taunted. "My people specifically picked your world because of how weak it was compared to others. Your world and those other three will make perfect nourishment for our god!"

Izuku narrowed his eyes, trying to comprehend just what the hell Kotetsu was talking about. Other worlds, nourishment, a god, none of it made sense to him. _Focus on the enemy in front of you,_ Izuku reminded himself as he felt One For All course through his body. Green lightning crackled around him. _If you get bogged down by a villain monologuing about his evil plans, you'll get distracted throughout the fight._

 _Don't get bogged down, focus on the fight._ Izuku repeated in his head before completing his power up.

"One For All: Full Cowling!" Izuku exclaimed. "20%!"

Kotetsu chuckled. "Well, well, well, well, well." He smirked. "Someone's eager to fight. Well, unfortunately I can't really yell some cool 'activation' code words like you do. I think you'll just have to settle for the feeling of getting punched with a body enhanced by a skeleton that's enhanced to a powerful steel."

Izuku narrowed his eyes. "Is it made of adamantium or vibranium?" He asked curiously.

"I don't know what either of those are." Kotetsu deadpanned.

"The two hardest metals ever made in comic books." Izuku explained. "If you don't think your skeleton is as hard as either of those materials...then I'm pretty confident I can take you down, Kotetsu."

Kotetsu frowned. "Odd kid…" he muttered before Izuku was upon him, making him gasp in slight surprise at the young man's speed.

"One For All: 20%!" Izuku yelled, loading up his fist for a powerful smash attack. A devastating right hook. "Texas Smash!"

Kotetsu quickly crossed his arms and blocked the punch, only to be pushed backwards from the force of Izuku's attack. Izuku's eyes immediately widened from the pain in his fist that followed. "OWOWOWOWOWOW!" Izuku yelled comically. "That hurt! It actually _did_ feel like I was punching vibranium!"

Tenya sweat-dropped at Izuku's behavior. Kotetsu, meanwhile, gazed at his arms, noting how they felt like they were ringing from the blow. "I actually felt that," he muttered, "damn, and here I was hoping that he would just be as weak as a newborn."

Kotetsu sped towards Izuku. _I'll take him down quick before has another chance to hit me with a smash like that._ He decided.

"Stay away!" Kotetsu had been so focused on Izuku, he failed to account for Tenya taking this opportunity to react. The successor to the Ingenium name kicked Kotetsu right in the head, catching him off guard and knocking him away from his path towards Izuku.

Immediately, Tenya started hopping on one foot, clutching his leg in pain. "THAT HURT!" He screamed. "I've never even read those comics and I can tell this is what kicking vibranium is like!"

Kotetsu growled in frustration. "Are those brats even taking me seriously." He muttered before rubbing his head. "Good, I didn't feel that one as much. He's physically weaker than Midoriya, big time. But that momentum of his was enough to push me back...guess I can't mess around with these kids."

Kotetsu did indeed realize, that even if he was superior to them individually, together those two could indeed pose trouble for him. Yeah, for the sake of his future, he could not mess around.

Izuku and Tenya recovered from their bad experiences from punching and kicking Kotetsu. "Okay, so maybe we should avoid attacking him directly." Tenya pointed out, eyes still wide from the shock and pain.

"Good call, very good call." Izuku shook his hand to get rid of his own pain. "On the plus side, I think I've got a plan that allows us to do just that."

Izuku gazed at Tenya. "Would you be willing to ferry me around so that I may blast this guy with long-ranged attacks. I know it doesn't sound very heroic, especially for you...but it's honestly the best plan I've got."

Tenya's immediate response was to grab onto Izuku. "I just have to carry you around out of his reach, right?" Tenya asked. "And maybe keep you in place so that you don't get hit too hard by the recoil from your own attack?"

Izuku smiled and nodded, happy to see that Tenya was immediately on board with his plan. "Yes, exactly!" He exclaimed. "This is exactly what I need!"

Tenya nodded. "Try not to get sick." He told him. "It wouldn't do either of us any good if you suddenly got sick in the middle of this plan."

Tenya got into the best sprinter's stance he could, in spite of holding Izuku out in front of him. "Now, let's go!" Tenya exclaimed as he began racing around Kotetsu.

Kotetsu sweat-dropped at the sight. "What in the world am I looking at?" He muttered, watching as Tenya ran circles around him with Izuku in his grip.

Suddenly, Tenya slowed down, revealing that Izuku was already gearing up for an attack. _This'll probably hurt just a bit, since I don't have Hatsume's equipment on me, but I've got no choice!_ Izuku noted.

"Delaware Smash Air Force!" Izuku yelled, firing four simultaneous compressed air blasts from his fingers (sans his thumb).

Kotetsu's eyes widened as he was suddenly blasted in the back by the compressed air blasts. Izuku grit his teeth in slight pain, feeling the recoil from his own attack. Thankfully, Tenya did his part to keep him in place. _It hurts, but not as bad as it did when I first used 20% against Overhaul._ Izuku noted, unable to prevent himself from smiling slightly. _I guess that means, I'm making One For All my own...even if it is a bit of a slow process._

Kotetsu immediately recovered, glaring at Izuku and Tenya. "Izuku, he shrugged your attack right off!" Tenya frantically pointed out.

"Agh, it's just as I thought!" Izuku exclaimed. "Without Hatsume's equipment, I can't focus the blasts and make them stronger. He's still getting hit by four Air Force smashes worth of power, but they're all focused on different locations. If I could just land a hit on one single spot with that much power, I could actually damage him."

"Damn brats," Kotetsu growled, "you won't get away from me!"

Kotetsu Vanishing Walked towards Tenya and Izuku who both gasped at the man's incredible speed. "Tenya! Tenya! Tenya!" Izuku frantically screamed for Tenya to get them both away from him.

Tenya grit his teeth and forced a sudden burst from the engines in the back of his legs. It was not a Recipro Burst, but it was enough. Kotetsu through a haymaker that came dangerously close to Izuku's face, but just missed thanks to Tenya. However, he could feel the air whizzing across his cheek, and it definitely made him wary of the sheer force Kotetsu could put behind his attacks.

"Thanks," Izuku smiled with relief before rearing back for another blast. "Delaware Smash Air Force!"

Kotetsu had no time to react due to being off balance from the haymaker. He grunted as he was assaulted once more by the blasts of air from Izuku's Air Force attack. Like before, he quickly recovered and rushed Izuku and Tenya.

This time, Tenya was ready and rushed away with Izuku in tow, avoiding Kotetsu's next attack. Kotetsu narrowed his eyes in fury. _Damn it, that brat with the engines in his leg is ruining everything!_ He snarled inwardly. _And I don't have any ranged attacks too._

Kotetsu gazed at the engines on Tenya's legs. _Not all is lost though._ He mused inwardly. _One thing the Cardinal made clear to us from his discussions with All For One was that Quirks have a limit they reach. I don't have to win just yet. I just have to outlast this damn brat!_

While being carted around by Tenya, Izuku shook his right hand to shake out the numbness inside of it. _It still hurts just a little, because of the lack of gear, but at least my bones aren't showing any signs of breaking just yet. That's good. The doctor said I have at best, two or three full-powered smashes before I lose the use of that arm forever._

"Tenya!" Izuku called out.

Tenya slowed down, giving Izuku the chance to steady himself and strike at Kotetsu once more. "Delaware Smash Air Force!" Izuku yelled.

Kotetsu felt the side of his body cave in slightly from the next blow as he stumbled. Like the last two blows, he quickly shrugged off the attack and gave both boys a maniacal grin as Tenya sped up once more to avoid whatever counterattack Kotetsu had in mind. "I can take it." He sneered. "I can take anything you wimpey-ass brats throw at me! I am a proud member of the Cult of the End! Like hell two brats from such a weak world are going to take me down! Even if one of you is All Might's successor!"

Izuku narrowed his eyes at Kotetsu's statements _There he goes again about that name, the Cult of the End. That's a villain group I've never heard of before, but he insists on not being written off as a mere team of villains like the League is. Are they one of the new teams of villains that came about after All Might retired? No, they wouldn't be able to pull off an attack of this magnitude if they hadn't been around for years. And wasn't he going on about other worlds earlier?_

 _It may sound crazy...but I'm beginning to think there's more to this than I originally thought. As in, the entire world may just have to adjust its perception of what the universe is and our place in it. It may very well be just be the ramblings of a deranged lunatic, but at this point, I have no choice but to consider the possibility that he really is from a different world!_

 _But what I don't like is how much he knows about All Might and me. That only confirms that whoever these people are, they've been in contact with All For One._

"-zuku! Izuku!" Tenya called out to Izuku, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"Oh, sorry, Tenya, I was just thinking." Izuku muttered sheepishly in spite of the insanely dangerous situation they were in.

"Izuku, I know this isn't what you want to hear, but nothing you're doing is actually damaging him." Tenya pointed out. "And might I remind you that my Quirk has a limit like any other."

Izuku nodded in understanding. "I'm sorry," he said, "here you are pushing yourself so hard and I'm not able to do anything."

"You're doing plenty," Tenya assured him, "but eventually, you're going to need to start doing more...especially if you are apparently the successor to All Might."

Izuku fell silent at this. "I won't say anything about that right now." Tenya promised. "But Izuku, if all that is true. If all of what he says isn't the ramblings of a madman, then you truly have been given quite the burden."

"I may still not fully understand the situation, but I do know what has happened to our world since All Might's retirement." Tenya pointed out. "Villain organizations rising up, crime rates rising, we depended on All Might, and now we're paying the price."

"Even if we all intend on picking up the slack...I do still think the world needs someone to rally behind. Not to become dependent on him, but for him to lead us as heroes." Tenya continued. "Izuku...I may not fully understand the situation, but it's clear to me that you must rise up with this Quirk of yours and succeed All Might."

"You need to become the hero you strive to be...for the sake of the entire world."

Izuku chuckled humorlessly. "Don't need to tell me twice." He said before adding with a smile. "Tenya, thanks. If people knew how good you were at building them up, I definitely think you would've beaten me in that class election back then."

"And I still would've voted for you." Tenya replied. "My faith in you has never once wavered, my friend."

Izuku gazed at Kotetsu, who seemed content to patiently wait for Tenya to slow down. "That power of his is insane though. The fact that his skeleton makes his body dense enough to tank blows from my smash attacks is crazy...even if it is only twenty percent of my power."

"However," Izuku continued, "he still _feels_ the attacks. He flinches, he stumbles, I just don't do any lasting damage because without the gear Hatsume designed for me, I can't concentrate the blasts into one single spot for maximum impact. Right now, I'd say my 'Air Force' smashes are like a shotgun. But to do lasting damage, we need to turn it into a .50 caliber bullet."

Izuku's eyes widened in realization, the analogy being what gave him the answer he was looking for. "But shotguns are suited for being up close and personal if you want to do real damage." He noted. "Not for range."

"You have a plan?" Tenya smiled knowingly.

Izuku nodded. "We have no choice, we've got to get in close to beat him."

"Izuku, one direct hit from that guy would lay either of us out." Tenya reminded him. "I assume you felt the force of that haymaker I barely got us out of."

Izuku sighed. "I know, it's a desperate strategy, but I think-no, I know it will work. I just need the right circumstances to make sure this plan goes off safely and without a hitch."

Kotetsu, meanwhile, scowled, waiting for Tenya to slow down. "That damn, four-eyed brat." He growled. "How long can those engines in his legs go, huh?"

Izuku sighed. "If only Sero, Todoroki or even Mineta were here." He mused. "We could wrap this guy up in tape, freeze him, or get him stuck in place. That would keep him immobilized and I could hit him with an Air Force smash up close and personal…"

Izuku trailed off as a memory suddenly flashed in his mind. His eyes widened slightly at the terrifying recent memory of when One For All went out of control, and he manifested that Black Whip Quirk for the first time. The Quirk of the 2nd One For All user.

 _This is a gamble._ Izuku immediately realized. _It's a gamble that could fail and mean my death...but at least in my death, I can save Tenya and Detective Tsukauchi._

 _All Might...I know I'm supposed to live and become the next Symbol of Peace. I know I'm supposed to take up your mantle. But what kind of hero am I if I run away to live? I'd have to force Togata to take One For All at that point, because there's no way I'd want to keep this Quirk if I were that much of a coward._

 _All Might, I know you'd do the same if you were in my situation._

"Tenya," Izuku spoke up, "I have a plan, but I need some time to put it into motion. Do you think you can distract that guy long enough for me to do it?"

"Izuku, he's after you," Tenya reminded him, "I'd need to make quite a distraction."

"Tenya, you know what I'm asking you to do." Izuku told him. "And...you know I wouldn't suggest it if I didn't honestly believe this was our best chance at winning."

Tenya gazed at Izuku, taking note of how serious he looked, and nodded. "Alright then," he said, "I'm putting my faith in you, Izuku...par for the course at this point, huh?"

Izuku could not help but laugh. "Then I guess we're putting our faith in each other, huh." He said. "Tenya, he's after _me_. I'm trusting you to keep him off my back long enough to put this plan into motion."

Tenya slowed down and set Izuku onto the ground. Izuku clutched his left arm with his right, closing his eyes to concentrate. He looked almost meditative in this state.

Kotetsu frowned in confusion. "The hell are you brats doing now?" He wondered before shaking his head. "No matter, since you slowed down, I'm going to crack your damn skulls now."

Naomasa Tsukauchi, who had been watching the fight from the start, was also in a state of confusion. _Midoriya...Iida, what are you boys playing at?_

Tenya then crouched into a sprinter's stance once more. He then removed the mufflers on the backs of his legs, allowing new ones to grow in their place. "My speed has gone up a step, villain. A step you won't be able to catch now!" Tenya promised. "Now you will see the power of the hero who inherited the mighty name Ingenium!"

"Recipro Turbo!" Tenya yelled before rocketing forward at a speed that actually caught Kotetsu off guard.

 _He's faster than a Deacon! I...I think he could actually give a Bishop a decent match in a foot race!_ Kotetsu realized with horror as Tenya sped all over the place.

 _I can't catch him any more. I was just behind him when he was jetting with those engines of his normally...but now I can barely follow his movements._ Kotetsu regained his composure. _No matter, his attacks won't have any affect on me. Even if the added momentum from that speed could actually do some damage, it'd be a double-edged sword. He'd only be kicking a steel wall at whatever insane speed he's going. You might as well be smashing fruit against a wall!_

 _He's still got a limit to consider, too._ Kotetsu reminded himself, holding his arms up in defense just in case Tenya was reckless and stupid enough to try and attack him. _I just need to hold out until he's slowed to a crawl, and then I can snap him in two!_

However, what Kotetsu was about to discover, was that Tenya was not the one he should be worried about. His shock at Tenya's speed was distracting him from the fact that Izuku was planning something.

 _Keep your emotions in check._ Izuku reminded himself. _Even if the world is burning around you because of the horrifying actions of some bunch of maniacs...you can't let fear and anger overrun you._

Izuku could not help but laugh inwardly. _Smile, even when things around you look bleak. That kinda sounds like something All Might would do. Same with Shimura, if what he told me about her is true._

" _Now your getting it, yo."_ Izuku found himself in that dark mental landscape once again. He turned to see the 2nd User of One For All.

" _Even if the world's gone whack, there's no need to be scared or pissed. You gonna be a great hero, remember? What's there to be scared about? What's there to be pissed about? If evil's running around, you stomp those fools with everything you got. Don't get mad, get heroic!"_

" _And remember, Number 9."_ The 2nd User gave a big, bombastic smile. _"You especially have no reason to be scared because we're all here with you, supporting you every step of the way. It may be your turn...but we're going to give it all we got in helping you too! Do your best, Number 9!"_

Izuku nodded, gazing at the shadowy figures behind the 2nd User that made up the other six previous wielders of One For All. Somewhere among them was Nana Shimura, All Might's mentor. He tried to speak, tried to assure them he would make them all proud, but no sound came out. Everything then vanished.

Izuku's eyes shot open as black tendrils suddenly manifested from his left arm. _That's it!_ He thought with a gleeful smile, gazing at the tendrils known as Black Whip.

 _All Might and Nana Shimura smiled through everything._ Izuku noted. _That will be how Deku does things too!_

Kotetsu heard the sound of those tendrils manifesting, turning and gasping at the sight. "What the hell is that?!" He screamed in disbelief.

 _One For All shouldn't be capable of something like that! It was nowhere in any of the data that had been provided to us!_ Kotetsu frantically noted.

Izuku whipped his left arm forward. "Tenya, move!" Izuku yelled for his friend to get out of the way.

Tenya suddenly vanished from Kotetsu's sight all together. The black tendrils then wrapped around his waist. "No!" Kotetsu yelled in frustration, desperately trying to rip the tendrils off of him, but to no avail.

Izuku then pulled his left arm back, yanking Kotetsu off his feet and pulling the man towards him. Izuku smiled. _All this time spent analyzing my classmates' Quirks really paid off. I'm using Black Whip just like Sero would use his Tape!_

 _And now...an explosive blast just like what Kacchan would use!_

"Delaware Smash!" Izuku yelled as Kotetsu's body reached a five foot radius between the two of them. "Air Force!"

Kotetsu yelled in pain as the compressed blasts of air from Izuku's fingers struck him in the same spot simultaneously. They may not have been concentrated, but at such short range, it did not matter. Izuku had him right where he wanted him now, where he could hit him with "shotgun shells" and not have to worry about how they spread out after being fired.

Kotetsu was violently flung back, but remained wrapped in Black Whip like a yo-yo. Izuku gritted his teeth, feeling his arm whip back from the force of Delaware Smash Air Force. Suddenly, someone grabbed onto him, holding him in place. He looked behind to see Tenya giving him a reassuring smile.

Izuku nodded in thanks and turned back to Kotetsu he quickly pulled Kotetsu back towards him again, intent on making sure this guy stayed down. "Delaware Smash, Air Force!" Izuku struck Kotetsu again when the Acolyte was close to him.

Kotetsu once again found himself doing his best impression of a yo-yo. Tenya continued to brace Izuku in place so that he could continue striking the Acoylte with as much strength as he could muster. Izuku noticed that Kotetsu seemed to be fading in and out of consciousness. "One more should do the trick." He muttered. "But I've gotta make sure he _stays down_.

Izuku pulled Kotetsu back towards him again. _Seems like yesterday I saw All Might take out that sludge villain with just the air pressure from his punches._ Izuku noted. _This'll probably be a pale imitation...but with how hard I've worked, it'll be enough!_

Tenya watched as Izuku made a fist. _A new move?_

Kotetsu was right in front of Izuku now. "Detroit Smash!" Izuku yelled, throwing his fist forward right at Kotetsu's face. "Air Force!"

A mighty blast of air hit Kotetsu with tremendous force. This one was significantly more powerful, like getting hit by a superpowered .50 caliber bullet. The force of Izuku's Detroit Smash Air Force was so great that it sent Kotetsu flying at speeds where even Black Whip could no longer hold him. Izuku and Tenya were also pushed back in spite of trying to brace each other.

Kotetsu flew limply through the air as he went into a building and actually came out on the other side. Tsukauchi watched the scene in shock, noting the destructive force from a mere 20% of One For All. He then looked at Izuku and gave a small smile.

 _You really do have a hell of an apprentice, All Might._ Tsukauchi commented. _I hope you know that._

Izuku quickly shook his hand to get the feeling back in it. "I'm glad that worked," he muttered, "we'd have been SOL if it hadn't."

"Izuku!" Izuku was suddenly picked up in a victorious embrace by a surprisingly happy Tenya. "We did it! We won!"

Izuku laughed. "Yeah, we did." He nodded. "Couldn't have done it without you, Tenya, thanks."

Tsukauchi just smiled. _The world's going to hell around them...but I guess I can let them have this little moment of victory._ His expression then turned serious as he turned to the spot the unconscious Kotetsu had landed. _That attack should leave him broken and immobile for quite awhile. Once he wakes up, he has some explaining to do. Getting to the safe zone can wait. These boys can handle themselves._

 _I need to know just who the hell these people are._ Tsukauchi noted, making his way to Kotetsu's body.

Elsewhere, a single bone-thin man with long silver hair and black eyes frowned when he noticed the fluctuating Reiki in a particular area. As the Cardinal of Death, he had the best senses in the Cult of the End. Among his comrades, he was famous for being the one who could tell if someone was alive and well...and if someone was at death's door.

"So they actually managed to get a win." The Cardinal of Death frowned. "Well that's just pathetic. I hope he knows that his duty now is to feed the misery of his failures to our god."

"Hmm...it looks like it was Kotetsu who lost too." He continued. "I suppose his misery from failure would be the only thing he's good for. He always was one of the weakest Acolytes. That Bone Density Art of his was inexcusably simple. It was his fate to be one of the casualties of our crusade. At least once he dies, he will finally be useful"

Then, out of the blue, the Cardinal of Death began a chant. "My right arm is a mighty serpent, lunging at the speed of lightning and devouring my enemies." He chanted, raising his right arm into the air. "Demon Orochi!"

The Cardinal of Death then transformed his arm into a giant black serpent that lunged at a nearby building. It closed its jaws around a chunk of it and pulled back. Inside of all the rubble was the top half of a pro hero that had the bright idea of trying to assassinate him from behind.

The Cardinal of Death scowled as his arm transformed back to normal. "You've gotta be kidding me. This is too damn easy." He groaned. "I've killed twenty pros since coming to this world and not a single one of them has been able to make me try."

"But I am a reaper after all. There is no fighting me." He noted. "I don't fight, I kill. I sense life, and then I take it."

"Then I challenge you to try and take mine, bastard." A voice growled. "Flashfire Fist - Devil Sword!"

The Cardinal of Death instinctively leaned to the side as a long line of fire shot past him, piercing right through several buildings. The Cardinal then leapt into the air as the line of fire moved underneath him to try and cut him down.

"I could sense you coming, a sneak attack was a waste of effort on your part." The Cardinal told him.

Enji Todoroki, AKA Endeavor, the current number one hero, glared at the Cardinal. "Fine by me, brute force was always more my style." He noted, his body heating up from the rage he felt. "Think you've got what it takes to make me number twenty-one?"

The Cardinal could not help but give a confident and eager smile. "Do you think you have what it takes to actually make me try?" He countered. "The fact that you'd confront me after a display of power like that is promising at least."

"I am the Number One Hero, the Flame Hero, Endeavor!" Endeavor announced. "Like hell I'm going to run from you! Whoever you and your associates are, you have a lot to answer for!"

"Flashfire Fist!" Endeavor yelled as flames shot out of the back of one of his fists. "Jet Burn!"

The Cardinal just smirked as Endeavor rocketed himself towards him. Inwardly he could not help but wonder: would Endeavor actually be able to challenge him, would Endeavor help him find joy in his purpose?

Elsewhere, Ochaco Uraraka and Tsuyu Asui were frantically running through the hellish landscape that was once a proud, vibrant city. Both were desperately trying to find pros to go back and help their classmates.

"Where is everyone?" Ochaco wondered. "This city should be crawling with pro heroes, right?"

Tsuyu frowned as she jumped from place to place, checking every nook and cranny for someone who can help them. "Ochaco," she said grimly, "I think you know the answer to that."

Ochaco paled. "Tsu," she said, "you can't seriously mean that we're...losing."

"I don't know if we're losing or not." Tsuyu shook her head, jumping down next to Ochaco. "But, I do think that all the pros stationed in the city have their hands full with whoever is attacking."

"I just can't believe this is happening." Ochaco whimpered. "This...this shouldn't be happening. This kind of stuff only happens in the movies and manga. Real life shouldn't have nightmares like this."

"Ochaco…" Tsuyu noticed how sick and fearful Ochaco looked.

"Hey, Ochaco," Tsuyu changed the subject, "how's your family? They evacuated, right?"

"My family lives just outside the city." Ochaco replied, pointing outwards. "I think...they managed to get out."

"I'm sure they did." Tsuyu assured her.

Ochaco smiled. "I hope so," she said, "knowing them, they probably refused to leave until they knew I was out...God, I wish they would just be selfish and think of themselves in this."

"Ochaco, they're your parents." Tsuyu reminded her. "It's a parent's right to be selfish if it's for the sake of their child."

"Well, well, well, what do we have here, hmm?"

Ochaco and Tsuyu froze as a weasley looking man in black robes appeared before them. "Are you lost, little girls?" He licked his lips in anticipation. "I'd be glad to give ya directions."

"They're here too." Ochaco paled.

"Not good." Tsuyu muttered.

"Oh, don't be afraid." The human weasel said in a tone that said they clearly should be afraid. "I don't bite...much."

The human weasel advanced on Ochaco and Tsuyu, who both dropped into their fighting stances, ready to defend themselves from this creep. However, before the man could get far, a mass suddenly dropped in from above, slamming him right into the ground and creating a large crater. The human weasel was immediately knocked unconscious. Ochaco and Tsuyu gasped in surprise. The mass was a very elderly looking man who still looked like he was in incredibly good shape.

The old man immediately turned his attention to Ochaco and Tsuyu. "Are you children alright?" He asked in concern.

"...Where did you come from, Grandpa?" Ochaco asked, still shocked that an old man could drop in like that and not be bothered by it at all.

"From above." He responded.

 _Who is that guy? I've never seen a pro hero like him before._ Tsuyu thought to herself. _I wish Midoriya was here, he'd be able to identify him. But that strength...it's almost like I'm looking at Grandpa All Might._

"Who are you?" Tsuyu asked.

"My name is Sojiro." The Grandmaster of Menou introduced himself. "Are two lost? I can take you two to safety if you wish."

Ochaco then remembered why they were running. "N-no! We can't leave the city yet!"

Sojiro raised an eyebrow. "Our friends!" Ochaco explained. "Our friends are trapped in a fight with the people attacking us! Please, you seem really strong, you have to help us!"

Sojiro briefly gazed out in a particular direction. _A Reiki signature just dropped. Someone was actually strong enough to beat them. I was hoping to go there and enlist whoever had won that fight, but I cannot ignore this._

Sojiro gave Ochaco and Tsuyu a grandfatherly smile. "What are your names?"

"Ochaco Uraraka."

"Tsuyu Asui, but please, call me Tsu, sir."

"Ochaco, Tsu, I'll help you and your friends." Sojiro promised. "Dealing with these enemies of yours is why I'm here, after all. Now, why don't you point me where your friends are, and we can head there?"

Before any of the trio could return to the remaining members of Class 1A, another loud explosion rang out. Three sets of eyes turned to see a thin, sickly looking man, collapse onto his stomach. Ochaco and Tsuyu gasped, immediately recognizing the man.

"All Might!" Ochaco yelled in concern.

All Might looked up to see two of his students and an old man he did not recognize. Meanwhile, the magician-like Cultist slowly floated into view behind him. "Young Uraraka, Young Asui?" All Might was perplexed, trying to figure out why they were here and not with their classmates.

He then looked at the old man. "...Who are you?" He wondered out loud.

The magician frowned, noticing the presence of Sojiro. "I'm wondering the same thing myself…" he growled, knowing immediately that the old man was a Watcher like him.

Sojiro frowned, noticing the magician's presence. He immediately stepped protectively in front of Ochaco and Tsuyu. "You two stay back." He ordered. "Don't worry, I'll protect you from this monster."

 _I'm sorry, Noriko, but as expected, I have to break my promise to you._ Sojiro apologized inwardly. _I'm well aware that fighting exacerbates my illness._

 _However, I cannot stand by while innocent people are attacked by monsters like these._ Sojiro continued as he stepped forward to move in front of All Might protectively. _I'm afraid I have no choice but to fight and protect these people._

Meanwhile, Class 1A found themselves locked in a struggle for survival against the Cultists that had attacked them. Katsuki Bakugou and Shoto Todoroki led the charge. "Take this!" Katsuki immediately struck first, blasting Nanaba once more with an explosion that sent the dice-thrower stumbling backwards.

Ishimura, however, was immediately upon Katsuki. Katsuki gasped in surprise at how fast the big guy had gotten in front of him. _Dude's way too fast for a guy his size!_

Katsuki immediately felt something wrap around his waist and pull him away just as Ishimura threw a powerful haymaker at him. He looked over his shoulder to see Hanta Sero giving him a frantic expression. "Thanks Elbow-Guy!" Katsuki yelled.

"It's Hanta Sero, idiot!" Hanta yelled, not caring this was Katsuki he was yelling at.

Eijirou Kirishima was then upon Ishimura. "Hands off my buddy, pal!" Eijirou exclaimed, hardening his right arm and delivering a right straight into Ishimura's stomach.

Ishimura briefly grunted before glaring down at Eijirou, who blinked in surprise at the man easily enduring a punch enhanced by his Hardening Quirk. Ishimura then took a face full of Shoto Todoroki's flames once again.

"Kirishima, get back!" Shoto yelled.

"Men don't normally retreat, but I will." Eijirou muttered, leaping away from Ishimura.

"Insects!" Ishimura growled, practically shaking the flames off his face.

"Calm down Ishimura." Nanaba reappeared by Ishimura's side, having recovered from Katsuki's attack. "Getting mad at a bunch of kids won't change anything."

"I've got every right to be pissed." Ishimura growled. "I'm wasting all the 'area' I can use my Stone on to keep these stupid brats trapped. I didn't even get all of them!"

"Nanaba is still right though." Ishimura and Nanaba turned to see Yukiko and Nijimi joining them. Yukiko, who had spoken up earlier, continued. "We won't get anywhere if we lose ourselves to rage."

"Didn't you just say to paint this place with their blood and guts, Yuki?" Nijimi teased.

"Oh, I mean to do just that, I'm just not going to let those damn brats catch me off guard again." Yukiko promised. "And part of that means remaining calm in the face of...being abjectly humiliated by lower lifeforms. Follow my example, you three, and we will win."

"Whatever ya say, Yuki." Nijimi cheered while Ishimura and Nanaba both rolled their eyes in unison.

Shoto immediately reacted, seeing they were about to make their move. "Giant Ice Wall!" He yelled, waving an arm out in front of him and immediately created a massive glacier in between his classmates and Mr. Aizawa, and the Cultists.

"Whoa!" Nijimi's mouth dropped open in awe. "An ice-user like you, Yuki."

"Nanaba, Ishimura," Yukiko ignored her over-hyper ally, "please take down this wall."

Nanaba summoned two dice while Ishimura pounded his fists together. On the other side of the glacier, Shoto breathed a sigh of relief. "That should buy us a few seconds."

"To get us away from here, right?" Minoru Mineta whimpered before explosions began to rock the glacier.

"Yaoyorozu!" Shoto yelled. "Ideas?"

"We need support-based Quirks and long-ranged Quirks in the back, and direct fighters in the front." Momo Yaoyorozu responded. "And the physical fighters need to communicate so that they know when to fall back."

"Damn, why did Midoriya and Iida have to leave at a time like this?" Hanta muttered.

"Shut up," Katsuki growled, "my Quirk technically counts as long range, but I'll fight up close too. Icy Hot, you should do the same. That way, we don't get the other physical fighters caught in the crossfire."

"Agreed." Shoto simply nodded, watching as his glacier continued to crumble.

"Yo, Teach!" Katsuki yelled at Aizawa. "How long before your Quirk is ready again?"

Aizawa narrowed his eyes. "It's just about ready, but I can make it seem like it is. That'll keep them off guard. Let me fight up front with you morons. Someone's gotta keep you out of trouble after all."

Aizawa hated this, he really just wanted them all to flee. As a pro and a teacher, he was prepared to sacrifice his life for their sake. That's what it meant to be both a pro and a teacher after all. And yet here he was about to fight by their sides.

Suddenly, the glacier came crumbling to the ground, revealing the four Cultists once more. "The buddy system may have gone out the window, but everyone stick together!" Momo yelled. "Attack!"

Aizawa, Katsuki, Shoto, Eijirou, Mashirao Ojiro and Rikido Sato all charged ahead. "Splendid, some volunteers." Yukiko grinned. "Nanaba!"

Nanaba stepped forward and prepared to summon two dice once more. _That guy with the exploding dice is trouble!_ Aizawa noted, turning his gaze on him. _I'll deal with him first!_

Aizawa turned his gaze onto Nanaba. Nanaba noticed Aizawa looking at him and gasped, thinking that his art was now not going to activate. Aizawa quickly wrapped his capturing weapon around Nanaba's neck and pulled him forward. Nanaba dug his heels into the ground to avoid taking a blow from Class 1A's homeroom teacher.

Yukiko stepped forward to cut through Aizawa's weapon, only for a single red eye to be trained on Yukiko, stopping her in her tracks. Seeing their opening, the physical fighters from Class 1A struck. Eijirou and Katsuki both struck Nanaba simultaneously, wrenching him free from Aizawa's capturing 's feet were briefly frozen to the floor by Shoto before Sato stepped up.

"I really don't like hitting girls." Rikido admitted. "But you are no lady! Sugar Straight!"

"Tail Whip!" Mashirao added.

Yukiko took the punch from Rikido head-on in the face, along with Mashirao's tail attack to the stomach. She gritted her teeth, not budging a single inch from the blows. Ishimura and Nijimi both stepped forward, Ishimura attempting an attack on Rikido while Nijimi tried to catch Eijirou and Katsuki in her Red Light attack. Aizawa then trained his gaze on Nijimi and the bubbly girl gasped, falling for his trick like Nanaba and Yukiko had earlier.

"Dark Shadow!" Nijimi was immediately pushed away by a sentient shadow, courtesy of Fumikage Tokoyami.

"Nice one, Tokoyami!" Eijirou complimented.

"We can't let her use that ability of hers!" Fumikage yelled. "We only saw that strange red light that froze Mr. Aizawa, but I think there's more! Not only will it weaken Dark Shadow, but we still don't know everything about her power!"

"Don't need to tell me twice!" Katsuki threw out an explosion that created a smokescreen, putting Nijimi on guard.

"Sato, Ojiro!" Ojiro and Sato retreated from Ishimura at the sound of Mina Ashido's voice.

Ishimura turned his attention to Mina as the pink-skinned girl began tossing liquid spheres at him. "Acid Shot!" Mina yelled as the balls of acid collided with Ishimura.

Ishimura grit his teeth as the acid singed his flesh. Yukiko growled as well, having been caught up in the attack like her large ally. However, much to Mina's surprise, neither Cultists seemed anywhere close to falling over.

Nijimi waited for Katsuki to emerge from the smokescreen he had kicked up. "He's not fast enough to get off an attack before I catch him in my Red Light." She muttered, holding up her hands and preparing to fire off Red Light.

Suddenly, Nijimi's hand was wrapped up by some substance. She gasped and turned to see that Hanta had actually circled around and attacked her from the side. "Nijimi!" Nanaba yelled in concern.

Nijimi ran forward to aid his comrade, only for Katsuki to charge outwards, rotating in midair rapidly with the help of his Quirk, Explosion. "Howitzer Impact!" Katsuki yelled, creating a massive explosion that enveloped both individuals and sending them flying.

"Damn it!" Yukiko yelled, wrenching her feet free from Shoto's ice. "Nijimi, Nanaba!"

Yukiko then suddenly felt the temperature drop and immediately noted she had nothing to do with it. "What?"

Mina smirked and slid away from Yukiko and Ishimura. Shoto then struck. "Flashfreeze Heatwave!" He yelled, rapidly heating up the air around him and releasing a superheated blast that enveloped both Ishimura and Yukiko.

"Wonderful, Todoroki!" Momo cheered, happy to see how their strategy was going.

 _With Mr. Aizawa keeping them off guard, wondering whether their abilities are active or not, Bakugou, Todoroki and the others are free to attack them freely. They have the advantage in terms of raw power, so we have to keep them off guard with trickery! I still don't know who these people are, but Class1-A prides itself on its knowledge of each other's Quirks and how to play off of them!_

 _We...we can win this!_ Momo thought in determination.

Immediately, several dice came out of the smoke created by Katsuki's Howitzer Impact and Shoto's Flashfreeze Heatwave. "Triple Dice!" Came Nanaba's voice as the dice exploded, pushing back Katsuki, Shoto and all the other direct fighters.

"What?" Kyoka Jiro exclaimed in surprise.

The smoke cleared, revealing four injured but pissed off Cultists. "I can't believe these brats are actually hurting us." Yukiko growled before gazing at Ishimura, who had stood in front of her.

He had actually taken the brunt of the attack for her sake. "I can't use much of my Art due to already maxing out its limit." He noted. "So I've gotta prove my use another way."

Yukiko chuckled, rising to her feet and patting Ishimura on the back. "Well done," she complimented genuinely, "your loyalty truly is an example to us all, Ishimura."

Aizawa recovered from being blasted by Nanaba's Triple Dice attack and trained his gaze on all four Cultists, knowing he could trick them and then have one of the students hit them with another mass attack like Katsuki and Shoto's moves. Yukiko noticed Aizawa looking at them. For a brief moment, she worried that her Art had been shut off by that damn Quirk of his again, but then noticed something that made her smile wickedly. She could still sense her own Reiki.

"Well ain't that a peach." She chuckled before waving her hand out in front of her, creating several massive spikes of ice.

Aizawa's eyes widened. How the hell did she figure out his Quirk was still recharging. "Whoa, Yukiko, did you develop some kinda immunity to Hobo-Man's Quirk?" Nijimi asked.

"No, I just figured out the limit." Yukiko chuckled. "And now the game ends. Hell Hail!"

The spikes of ice flew towards Class 1-A and Mr. Aizawa. "Crap, crap, crap!" Minoru screamed in fear.

And then, an unlikely savior stepped in. Spiky blonde hair like electricity. A pervy, cowardly, but heroic personality. Electricity crackling around his body. "Quit trying to kill my mates, dammit!" Denki Kaminari to the rescue.

Yukiko's eyes widened in surprise and amusement as Denki fired off bolts of lightning so massive that he actually managed to destroy all of her Hell Hail in one shot. "Kaminari!" Momo and Kyoka yelled in worry, knowing what using his Quirk at such a level would do to him.

Shoto and Katsuki both gasped, wondering if firing off his Quirk at such a level would actually _kill_ him instead of what it usually does. Then, Denki turned around and held two thumbs up, reassuring everyone. "YAY!" He said with that big dumb stupid grin on his face that showed up whenever he pushed his Quirk beyond its limit.

Yukiko heaved a tired sigh. "Nanaba, kill the spark plug." She growled.

Nanaba quickly tossed three dice at Denki. Hanta did not hesitate, he quickly wrapped tape around the now dumb Denki and pulled him away just as the dice exploded. A massive smokescreen was created from the three dice exploding "Mr. Aizawa." Momo spoke up nervously. "Please tell me your Quirk is ready again. We can't survive that a second time. Not without Kaminari's Quirk."

Aizawa nodded. "It's ready." He promised.

 _Thanks Kaminari,_ Aizawa gazed at Denki, _those extra seconds you bought us have made all the difference._

The smoke cleared and Aizawa quickly trained his gaze on the Cultists. Yukiko gasped, no longer sensing her own Reiki. "Oh dear oh dear," she mocked, "whatever shall we do now?"

Aizawa narrowed his eyes at the four Cultists. Frustrated at how they mocked him, his students, and the destruction they were causing. These people were inhuman, as far as he was concerned.

Wait, four Cultists...why were there only three?

"Red Light!" Suddenly, everyone froze in place as a red light enveloped them all at once.

Nijimi panted in exhaustion as she stood out to the side, having snuck away from her group through the use of the smokescreen. Blood dripped from her mouth due to overexerting her Art. "I really wanted to show off my Green Light and Yellow Light...but I also want to win." Nijimi muttered before yelling. "I've done all I can! Finish them, Yuki!"

Yukiko licked her lips viciously. "Well done, Nijimi, you are truly a credit to our faith." She complimented as she created multiple spikes of ice once more.

 _I can't use an attack of this scale too often, it drains my Reiki. Damn, to think these brats could actually wear me out this much._ Yukiko lamented. _Oh well, the despair of coming so close and failing will make for wonderful nourishment!_

While Class 1-A stared down a proverbial one-woman firing squad, the Acolyte known as Kotetsu found himself coming to, having been unconscious for...however long he had been, he honestly could not tell. He immediately found himself restrained by multiple pairs of handcuffs. Where that Tsukauchi had gotten them, he would never know. But regardless, it was clear that damn detective was not going to take any chances.

Tsukauchi, along with those two brats who beat him stood before him. Tenya Iida and Naomasa Tsukauchi were both glaring hatefully at him. Izuku Midoriya simply looked like he wanted answers. "So, you didn't run." Kotetsu mused.

"Because we want answers." Izuku told him.

"I share Midoriya's sentiments." Tsukauchi admitted. "I would very much like to know who the hell you are, where you came from, and who you're working for."

"And don't even bother lying." Tsukauchi growled. "My Quirk allows me to tell who's lying and who's telling the truth."

Kotetsu just chuckled at that statement. "If that's the case, you should know I was telling the truth when I was proclaiming my faith, and that I was a superior otherworlder compared to you trash."

Tsukauchi was briefly taken aback. Indeed, his Quirk would have told him right then and there that Kotetsu was lying. Oh God, he was not. Regaining his composure, Tsukauchi decided to break Kotetsu by reminding him of a single reality. "If you're so superior, why did you lose to these kids?"

Kotetsu frowned by remained silent. "Now, why don't we drop all this crap and you can tell us more about what you people are." Tsukauchi demanded. "You're going to spill everything about your leaders, your allies, your plans, _everything_. And then, I'm going to make sure you spend the remainder of your days locked up in a jail cell."

"Lot of good that did for those villains you had locked up in Tartarus." Kotetsu taunted with an irritating smirk on his face.

Kotetsu then sighed as a resigned smile crossed his features. "Anyway, I'm afraid you'll get nothing you want out of me." He promised. "The only truth you will receive from me is this: the end of times are upon you all."

Izuku and Tenya both gasped at Kotetsu's declaration. Kotetsu then continued. "Now, engage Acid End."

At that moment, a seal on Kotetsu's body activated. Black, ritualistic markings appeared all over him. Izuku, Tenya and Tsukauchi all gasped in horror as Kotetsu's body began to fall to pieces, like it was corroding away into nothingness.

Before any of them could do anything, Kotetsu was gone. All that was left of him now were the corroded ashes that were once his body. "What the hell?" Tenya muttered in shock before screaming even louder. "What the hell?!"

"I don't believe it." Tsukauchi looked sick to his stomach. "He was willing to go that far? What the hell kind of organization is he working for that inspires that kind of devotion?"

It took all of Izuku's willpower not to hunch over and vomit in shock and disgust. Was _this_ the kind of loyalty All For One inspired? Was this even a follower of All For One. Just who in the world was that man and what did he believe in so strongly that he committed _suicide_ for it to avoid being questioned.

"Hey, you okay, Midoriya." Tsukauchi looked at Izuku, noticing that he was taking it the worst out of all of them.

"Why did he do that, Detective?" Izuku found his voice. It was all he could say though.

"I don't know," Tsukauchi shook his head, gazing at the ashes, "I've seen criminals of all kinds in my line of work. Ones who've kept their mouths shut to not sell out their friends. Unrepentant murderers. Repentant criminals who wanted to rehabilitate themselves. But I've never seen a villain go straight to suicide like that. It's like...he thought his death would lead to something else...some sort of goal we don't know about."

Tsukauchi sighed. "Well, we've hung around here long enough. Let's get you boys to the safezone." He then addressed Tenya. "Iida, can you move?"

Tenya looked down at his legs, desperately trying to ignore the shock he felt from what he had just witnessed. "Y-yeah," he said, "they still feel a bit numb, but I can move. Sorry, I guess I should've realized this would only stall us."

"No, it's fine." Tsukauchi smiled reassuringly, "it gave us a chance to try and interrogate that guy...or at least try to. We...didn't expect that, nobody could have."

"Now come on, we'll have to walk from here, but as long as we keep moving we should be able to make it to the safehouse."

The two students began following Tsukauchi's lead. However, before they could get far, chilling laughter stopped all three men dead in their tracks. The color drained from their faces.

"So, the little unassuming one is All Might's successor? That's Izuku Midoriya?"

"He looks kind of cute, actually. I would love to break him my way before we end that accursed line of heroes forever."

"One For All, a truly remarkable Quirk. If only it were in the hands of someone more capable."

"Yeah, this world might've been able to squeeze out a few more years of life."

Seven voices began laughing together as the trio trying to walk away from the scene gazed up to the source in terror. Izuku felt all color drain from his face when he saw seven familiar faces standing on top of a nearby rooftop.

The Seven Demon Lords were here.

"Anyway, I call dibs." A woman dressed in a provocative black dress that looked like a mixture of a dominatrix' outfit and a woman of Victorian England spoke up with a long tongue eagerly running across her lips. A masquerade mask covered her face, but still showed a sadistic gleam in her eyes. The ruler of Japan's Red Light District, the villain Queen, also known as Lilith.

"Sheesh, you think just because of your stupidly high libido that you call dibs on people you want to play with and then throw them away like trash?" A tall man with a goatee, wearing black robes and a paintbrush strapped to his hip yawned. One of the bodyguards of All For One, the villain Kuro-Nuri, also known as Belphegor.

"You have no right to be so greedy." A lanky, bone thin man with long black hair grinned, showing off what looked like the fangs of a carnivore. All For One's 'attack dog', the villain Carnivore, also known as Beelzebub.

"Then again," he added, "I wouldn't mind letting you play with him as much as you want, Queen. Just as long as I get a taste of his flesh first!"

A hulking, seven-foot tall man with blonde hair and emerald green eyes silently gazed down at Izuku. He wore a fur coat that reminded him of a viking. He was the villain called Berserker, also known as Beril.

"Ha ha!" A man dressed in a red tuxedo and a black top hat obscuring his dark brown hair chuckled with glee. He was the villain Mad Bomber, also known as Mammon. "Come now, my old comrades, surely we can agree on something so trivial? We all have a claim on All Might's successor."

"He's right." A scruffy looking, sandy blonde man with tired eyes and a button-up shirt gazed down at Izuku with a mixture of interest and bloodlust. Weirdly enough, he looked the least like a villain. He instead looked like the guy who pulled an all-nighter at a casino and lost everything but his clothes. However, Izuku was well aware that he was, just like everyone else now training their dark gazes on him. He was the villain called Good Luck, also known as Leviathan.

"You six can do whatever the hell you want. Just remember that as the one who lost the most to All Might. It is my right to hurt this boy the most." The last of the Seven Demon Lords was already gazing at Izuku with spite. He wore a golden crown, a golden mask, a golden tuxedo, a golden cape, everything about him was draped in gold. He was the villain known as Gilded King, also known as Mataro Kaneshiro, the man who would have been Japan's next prime minister once upon a time.

And of course, he is also known as Lucifer, All For One's second in command and the leader of the Seven Demon Lords.

"Huh?" Queen frowned. "We all lost everything because of All Might, Lu. Don't think you're special just because you were going to be prime minister. If you wanted the job that badly, you shouldn't have become a villain like the rest of us."

"She's right." Good Luck nodded in agreement. "Every misfortune we experienced can be traced back to All Might."

"And the only reason you even got that far in the election was because Lord All For One was helping you out!" Carnivore reminded Gilded King.

"All For One would disagree." Gilded King glared at Carnivore. "If All Might hadn't ruined everything, I would be in the position I deserved!"

"That kinda goes for all of us." Kuro-nuri calmly reminded Gilded King. "Now, can we please stop arguing and kill this kid, please? I really want to go home and paint this image of destruction I've been seeing all day so that I remember it forever."

Tsukauchi went pale. They had to get the hell out of here. Especially Izuku! "Both of you, run!" Tsukauchi demanded. "Midoriya, go full speed! They're after you!"

Izuku nodded in understanding. Even he was not foolish enough to try and fight the Seven Demon Lords at once. "One For All: Full Cowling!" He yelled. "20%!"

However, Izuku could not help but move to grab Tsukauchi first. He did not bother trying to grab Tenya because he knew that Tenya had recovered enough to use his engines to get as far away from this as possible.

Sadly, that well-meaning act of trying to save a life cost Izuku dearly. Suddenly, he felt something wrap around his ankle and yank him away from Tenya and Tsukauchi. "Izuku!" Tenya yelled in concern.

Izuku screamed as he was lifted into the air by an insanely long tongue that went all the way to the mouth of Queen. At that moment, he remembered what he had read about Queen all those years ago.

 _Name: Aimi Takeshita. Villain Name: Queen. Quirk: Super Tongue. This Quirk allows the user to extend their tongue to rapid lengths. It also has the strength to act as a deadly whip that has been known to bring down entire buildings with the force of the attack. The longest recorded length of her tongue was 300 feet._

Carnivore laughed at Queen's success. "Yes, Queen, slay!" He cackled in a joking tone.

Queen rolled her eyes at Carnivore's bad joke. She then tossed Izuku to the roof in front of the Demon Lords. Her tongue retracted into her mouth. She trained her hungry eyes on Izuku as the Demon Lords advanced upon him. "I just love helpless boys and girls like you." She admitted. "Now then, the list of names you are allowed to call me as you scream in pain are as follows: Mistress Aimi, Ai-chan, Mistress Lilith, Lil-chan, and of course, Queen."

Izuku paled in utter fright. Even at his best, he could not get away from the Demon Lords. Just one of them _playing around_ was enough to catch him. He watched as they all continued to advance upon them like hungry wolves.

"Izuku!" Tenya yelled in worry and horror.

 _Help me!_ Izuku pleaded inwardly. _Somebody help me!_

A large gust of wind suddenly picked up. Suddenly, a large mass flew straight into Mad Bomber, knocking him all the way to the other side of the roof. "MB, watch out." Kuro-nuri said dispassionately.

Immediately, another gust of wind, this one more violent than the previous, flew in. "What the hell?" Carnivore grit his fang-like teeth as he and the other Demon Lords were pushed far away from Izuku, who instinctively grabbed onto the edge of the roof, bracing himself.

"Is it a hero?" Gilded King grit his teeth in frustration.

"Like that matters, my new toy is not getting away from me!" Queen's tongue immediately extended from her mouth once more, shooting towards Izuku.

Izuku's eyes widened at the Super Tongue coming towards him. Then, much to his shock, a large mass landed in front of him. This mass, a person, quickly batted the tongue away from Izuku, grabbed onto him, and then leapt away from the stunned Demon Lords to a roof on the other side of the street. All of this was done in under 2 seconds.

Upon landing, Izuku gazed up at his savior and his eyes widened in disbelief. Tenya and Tsukauchi both gasped, seeing Izuku's savior as well. One by one, all Seven Demon Lords paled in utter fright at the sight of the new arrival. Mad Bomber could not even rise to his feet after being knocked over by what had flown into him. He was that shocked and frightened.

By the way, what slammed into Mad Bomber was a Cultist who oddly looked like him: a magician.

"Have no fear, Young Midoriya." A familiar, grandiose voice reassured the young hero.

All Might had saved him once more...and he was in his superpowered form, the form the world had grown known him to be in for so long. The form he could no longer use without One For All.

All Might gave Izuku his trademark smile. Immediately, Izuku felt reassured, like he always had. Like nothing had ever changed. "I am here!"

 **A.N: What a twist! All Might has returned to form! But how? It can't possibly have something to do with that otherworld grandpa. No way. Not at all.**

 **I weirdly enough enjoyed Aimi Takeshita's (Queen) lines the most in this chapter. It's funny. She's got that "Anything that Moves" trope thing going. However, as I'm sure many of you realized, this trope is not played for laughs at all, unlike most of the times it's used.**

 **It really is funny how we see tropes like that, that are meant to make us laugh, but apply them in real life, and there is nothing funny about it: especially from a depraved woman like Aimi Takeshita.**

 **Anyway, hope everyone enjoyed the chapter. I'll see y'all next month.**


	10. Chapter 10: For The Sake of All

**Chapter 10: For the Sake of All**

In a sudden, shocking twist, the world's greatest hero had suddenly returned to active duty. All Might, the invincible Symbol of Peace, who had been forced into retirement after a climactic battle with the sinister All For One, was back in action. However, to those who knew the truth about All Might and his Quirk, this should be impossible. All Might was already on his way to becoming Quirkless after gifting his power to his successor: the young and promising Izuku Midoriya. He could not possibly be able to fight again with his power now gone.

So how? How was the former Symbol of Peace standing tall and proud in front of his former foes, the Seven Demon Lords? How was he able to glare them down with a look that promised pain, as he protectively held onto his apprentice.

The answer most likely could be found in the unconscious, magician-looking Cultist: formerly known as Majiro. To truly understand this sudden turn of events, let us take a moment to turn back the clock to the moment where All Might truly returned to form.

 _All Might watched as the old man known as Sojiro stepped up next to him. "Are you alright, good sir?" Sojiro asked politely._

 _All Might could not help but raise an eyebrow. Sojiro was talking to him like he was just another person. Did he not know who he was? "I'm fine," All Might tried to force himself to his feet, only to realize how exhausted his weak and frail form truly was. However, he was still focused on something else. "But my guards...the people who were supposed to be escorting me. They're dead. That bastard killed them all."_

 _Majiro laughed. "Guilty as charged." He proudly proclaimed, only to be silenced by a terrifying glare from Sojiro._

 _Majiro instinctively backed away._ _ **Such terrifying wrath!**_ _Majiro thought fearfully._ _ **Who is this old man?**_

 _Paralyzed with fear, Majiro could only watch as Sojiro gazed down at All Might with a curious expression on his face. "Guards, you say?" Sojiro could not help but wonder what this frail man needed guards for. "Who are you exactly?"_

 _All Might gazed up at Sojiro in confusion. "What?" He asked. "You...don't know who I am? At all?"_

" _You'll have to forgive me." Sojiro shrugged. "I'm from...a land far away."_

" _You must be from a land real far away if you don't know who he is." Tsuyu Asui pointed out. "That's All Might. The world's greatest hero."_

 _Sojiro gazed at All Might's frail body. He had heard the name when he had come here, but there was one thing that bothered him immensely. It was the proverbial elephant in the room. "...He doesn't look the part."_

" _He used to." Ochaco Uraraka explained. "But he was forced into retirement due to injuries from his last battle."_

" _Is that right." Sojiro was now gazing at All Might in interest. He had also heard about the climactic battle All Might had found himself in, but not as much as he would have liked._

 _Sojiro looked up at the fearful Majiro. "So, he went after you because you were the number one hero." He immediately realized. "I guess that makes sense. Killing you off would be a terrible blow to the morale of this world."_

" _Hardly seems fair, doesn't it?" All Might bitterly noted. "I can't fight anymore and they're still trying to kill me. Not only that, but people have to die to protect me. I've gone from being the hero who can protect everyone to someone who needs to be protected."_

" _All Might…" Ochaco muttered sadly. He was still all smiles. Nobody had ever noticed how bitter he was about being forced into retirement. Perhaps he meant to do that. But now, with the world going to hell around them, the truth was coming out._

 _At that moment, Sojiro came to a decision. He reached into his coat and pulled out a single piece of paper. "All Might," Sojiro said to him, "I know we just met, but are you willing to trust me?"_

 _All Might looked at Sojiro in surprise, before remembering that this man was helping two of his students. "You were helping Young Uraraka and Young Asui." All Might pointed out. "I'll gladly trust you if you were willing to help two of my students like that."_

 _Sojiro nodded. "There's no time for me to explain everything." He admitted, revealing a strange, circular design with two lines that almost made the circle look like a clock. "However, if you are willing to trust me, then I will take this opportunity to give you back your power, at least for now."_

 _All Might's eyes widened at this. "That...shouldn't be possible."_

" _Perhaps not in your world," Sojiro acknowledged, "but you'd be surprised what you can do in my world."_

" _This is known as a Time Seal." Sojiro explained. "By pressing it onto your back, you will be branded with its power. I can either freeze your body's time or rewind it. To rewind it, I need you to give me the exact number of years you had your power."_

 _All Might was still very confused by what Sojiro was telling him. Other worlds. Time Seals. All of it made no sense to him. However, if this really was his chance to return to active duty and help people once again, by God he was going to take it._

" _I accept." All Might nodded before telling Sojiro the number of years he had One For All._

 _Sojiro smiled and quickly slapped the seal onto All Might's bare back, his shirt having been torn up in the chaos. He quickly called out the number of years before chanting: "Now, bend the power of time to your will!" He chanted. "And rewind back to a more favorable moment!"_

 _All Might gasped in shock as his body lit up. The black circle appeared on his back like a tattoo. Then, much to the amazement of Ochaco and Tsuyu, All Might's body began to expand. Majiro watched in horror as All Might transformed…_

 _...Back to his hero form._

 _Suddenly, All Might found himself surrounded by darkness. "This place…" he muttered to himself._

" _Well now, I honestly wasn't expecting this." All Might's eyes widened at that familiar voice. God, he never thought he would hear that voice ever again._

 _All Might slowly turned to see the smiling face of a beautiful woman, very near and dear to his heart. "Master…" All Might could not stop himself from weeping._

 _Nana Shimura, the seventh wielder of One For All, gave All Might a big smile. "I didn't think we'd be connected like this again, Toshinori." She admitted. "Fate really does have a funny way of doing things sometimes, huh?"_

 _All Might nodded, wiping the tears from his eyes. "Yeah." He said, before gazing at his master in shame. "Master, your grandson…"_

 _Nana silenced All Might. "I know everything, Toshinori." She said with a sad smile. "What happened to Tenko was my responsibility. In the end, I wasn't strong enough to protect my own family from All For One. If I had been stronger, I wouldn't have needed to send my son into hiding. The blame lies with me, not you."_

" _Master, no!" All Might shouted, trying to deny that._

 _Nana then gave All Might a big smile, silencing him again. "Besides, I have faith that Number 9 will succeed where the both of us failed." She admitted. "Toshinori, you picked a wonderful successor in that boy. Izuku Midoriya...Deku...that boy is going to be the one who makes everything right. I just know it."_

 _All Might fell silent for a moment before smiling. "Yeah," he said softly, "Izuku's great, isn't he? He'll be a better Symbol of Peace than me."_

 _Nana nodded before gazing at All Might with complete seriousness. "You know your job now isn't just to be the Symbol of Peace again, right?" She reminded him. "This is only temporary. It always was, but now it is especially true."_

 _All Might nodded. "Right, by the time this wears out once more...Izuku will be ready to take my place." He promised._

 _Nana returned to smiling at her beloved pupil. "Then once again," she said, as six shadows appeared behind her, "do your best, Toshinori."_

 _In the real world, All Might finished his transformation and gazed at his familiar heroic form in shock. "It worked," he said in disbelief, "it actually worked."_

 _Sojiro smiled. "Welcome back, All Might."_

 _All Might nodded. Ochaco and Tsuyu both could not restrain their tears of joy and relief. "I still don't know who you are." All Might noted. "But thank you for this. Now I can make a difference once more."_

 _All Might then turned to the frightened Majiro. "And as for you, villain. You have much to answer for."_

 _Majiro narrowed his eyes. "I don't know what you just did, but it won't matter!" Majiro yelled._

 _Sojiro's eyes widened slightly, sensing an energy source similar to All Might's in the distance. "All Might," Sojiro said to him, "If I may, is there someone with an ability similar to yours? They seem to be fighting in that direction there. And they seem to be in distress."_

 _All Might gasped. "Young Izuku?" He turned to where Sojiro was pointing._

 _Majiro grinned. "I've got you!" He yelled, attempting to take advantage of All Might's distracted state and pulled a massive anvil out of his pocket dimension. He quickly tossed the anvil at All Might._

 _The anvil crashed to the ground, only for All Might to reveal himself right behind the magician. Majiro gasped._ _ **I didn't even see him move!**_

" _You said that Young Izuku was that way, yes?" All Might pointed to the northeast._

 _Sojiro nodded. "Well then, better let whoever's attacking him know that something far worse is on its way!" All Might decided. "Hang on, Young Izuku, I'm coming!"_

" _DAMN IT!" Majiro screamed in terror._

" _Texas Smash!" All Might nailed Majiro right in the stomach, sending the magician flying right to Izuku's location._

" _Would you mind taking Young Uraraka and Young Asui to safety?" All Might requested. "I have a student who needs rescuing."_

 _All Might leapt from the ground and took off at tremendous speeds. Sojiro nodded proudly. "Nice to see those Time Seals work." He mused. "Wish I knew how to track the one who made them down so that I could give her a proper thank you."_

" _Umm, Mr. Sojiro?" Ochaco spoke up. "Before you take us to safety."_

" _Don't worry, I know," Sojiro promised, before scooping up both girls, "now then, let's go help your classmates, little ones."_

Back in the present, Izuku stared up at his fully-powered mentor and idol in disbelief. "I don't understand," Izuku muttered, "All Might, how are you…"

"Izuku, I'll explain everything later." All Might assured him. "Or rather, I'll introduce you to the one who will explain everything thing later. I doubt you'd believe me if I was the only one telling you this."

With that, All Might gently set Izuku down onto the roof they were standing on and turned his full attention to the Seven Demon Lords, who were gazing at him with two vastly different emotions: shock and fear.

"It's been a long time, hasn't it, you demon lords who sold your souls to the devil." All Might noted. "Tell me, did you expect to see me in action again?"

All Might did not receive a single response from any of them. "If you wish to fight and try and take your revenge, then by all means, come forward." All Might told them. "I'd be more than happy to reintroduce you to the fists that brought all seven of you to justice back then."

All Might crouched down, making it seem like he was going to come forward instead. Immediately, all seven villains flinched in fear, the fear now even more evident in their eyes. Even Gilded King, the man of immeasurable pride, found himself utterly terrified in the presence of the man who had taken everything from him.

All seven villains found themselves experiencing nightmares in the form of flashbacks, as each and every one of them remembered their downfalls at the hands of All Might. "Damn you," Gilded King snarled, "this isn't over yet!"

With that, the Seven Demon Lords fled All Might in terror, one by one. Izuku watched in amazement as All Might's mere presence deterred seven of the most terrifying villains in existence. However, much to his surprise, one villain remained for a bit longer. He still looked nervous and scared, but he was also staring at All Might with visible hatred in his eyes.

Izuku then heard a heavy sigh from All Might. He looked to see his idol giving that villain a gaze that held a hint of pity and regret.

Good Luck gave All Might a curt nod. "Toshinori." He said simply, before retreating like the other Demon Lords.

All Might sighed. "Raku," he muttered softly.

Raku. Raku Ichinose. That was the true name of the villain known as Good Luck. Did...All Might have some sort of connection with Good Luck? All Might then heaved a sigh of relief. "Good, they've retreated." He noted. "I could've fought them. But I just got this Quirk back. Even if I can feel the power I had in my prime, I would rather not test my limits just yet."

"All Might!" Izuku called out to him, getting All Might's attention. "How did you get One For All back?"

All Might smiled. "Like I said, Izuku, I'll explain everything later. Or rather, I'll let the one who gave One For All back to me explain everything."

"The one who gave you One For All back?" Izuku looked at All Might in confusion. "But...I can still feel its power inside of me."

All Might laughed. "Quit trying to figure it out kid." All Might told him. "Trust me, your head will just hurt if you do."

All Might then looked out to see that UA was on fire. "Damn, the school's getting pummeled." He noted. "Izuku, can you get to the safehouse with Naomasa and...wait, why is Young Iida with you?"

"Long story, I trust him, All Might."

All Might gazed at the shocked Tenya inquisitively before he nodded to his apprentice. "And I trust you, Izuku." All Might assured him with a smile. "Get to the safehouse. Once things calm down, I'll hopefully be able to introduce you to the one who gave me back One For All."

With that, All Might leapt into the air once more. Izuku, still shocked, could not restrain himself from smiling. It was all real. His mentor was back in action. "Izuku!" He heard Tenya call out to him.

Izuku nodded at his friend and leapt back down to join him and Tsukauchi. "Midoriya," Tsukauchi said to him in disbelief, "was that really All Might?"

Izuku smiled and nodded. "Yep, he's back in action."

"...How?" Tenya said in disbelief.

Izuku laughed. "I...really don't know myself." He admitted. "All Might was...pretty vague about it. Why don't we get back to the safehouse? Detective, we can make it on foot, right?"

"Well, yeah." Tsukauchi sighed. "Sheesh, this day has just gone from dark and hopeless, to dark and strange. Things were supposed to be hard after All Might, but never this bad."

"I wouldn't really say it's dark anymore." Izuku pointed out. "All Might is back. Everything is going to be okay now."

Back with Class 1-A, Deacon Yukiko laughed madly as she prepared to turn everyone in Class 1-A into frozen pincushions. "Game over, kiddies. You get nothing but death! So long, farewell!" Yukiko taunted. "Hell Hail!"

"Starlight Breaker!" Yukiko and her teammates were suddenly caught off guard by the shockwave of a single punch. They all braced themselves against the force of the blow.

The ice-user watched in horror as her ice started to crack and then break apart. The ice fell around her like snow. "Umm...what?" Nijimi muttered in surprise.

"Those are your classmates down there, right?" The Cultists turned to see an old man standing atop the wall created by Ishimura with two familiar looking girls.

Nijimi was visibly intimidated by the fact that this old man was responsible for Yukiko's Hell Hail being cancelled out. She instinctively backed away, only to cause her Red Light to drop, freeing the rest of Class 1-A and Shota Aizawa.

"Whoa, I can feel the rest of my body again, thank God." Minoru Mineta whimpered.

Katsuki Bakugou looked up at the old man. "Who the hell is that?" He demanded.

Momo Yaoyorozu's eyes widened, recognizing the girls with Sojiro. "Uraraka! Asui!" She said in relief. "You two made it back alright!"

"Don't worry, we brought help!" Ochaco exclaimed.

"Everything's going to be fine now!" Tsuyu added.

Sojiro glared at the Cultists. "You lot have quite a bit to answer for. How dare you show your faces across the universe once more?"

"Damn," Yukiko snarled, "what the hell is a Traveler doing here? I thought we had gone far enough out of the way that they couldn't track us down?"

Sojiro sped in front of the Cultists with Vanishing Walk. "I suppose you lot simply have bad luck." He noted. "Perhaps you should actually destroy the worlds you slaughter rather than just leave them like a graveyard next time? Unless of course you've become so weak since your last attempt that such a matter is now out of your reach?"

All four Cultists glared at Sojiro for that snide remark. "Did I touch a nerve?" The old man inquired curiously. "Is that why your picking on worlds like these? Because you know you'd just get slaughtered if you tried anywhere else?"

"Shut your damn mouth you old geezer!" Yukiko snarled. "Who the hell do you think you're talking to?"

"Foolish brats, whom like many before, got involved with a bad crowd, and instead of realizing how horrible the crowd was and learning from your mistakes, decided you liked it and stuck with that bad crowd instead." Sojiro responded. "In other words, bad seeds that grew into evil weeds that really need to be pulled."

"I don't know who the hell you are, Gramps, but you're really speaking my language here." Katsuki Bakugou acknowledged, stepping up next to the old man.

"Indeed, and now that we're free, these people have a lot to answer for." Shoto Todoroki added. "Attacking us and our classmates, our school, the city. Yeah, a lot to answer for."

Sojiro sighed. "I appreciate the initiative, boys, but these people intend to kill you. Are you prepared to do the same to survive?" He asked. "The last people I fought were just a bit older than you and they killed real monsters for a living, so it wasn't a problem. But what about you two?"

This took both Shoto and Katsuki off guard. "Whoa, whoa, kill them?" Katsuki frowned. "We're training to be heroes here."

"That's right, and it would look bad on both of us if we _took_ lives, even if they were lives of pure evil." Shoto pointed out.

"A fair point. It's admirable that the both of you have the moral compasses not to want to take any lives." Sojiro acknowledged. "However, I should also warn you. These are also the people you cannot hold back against. Whether you hold back or not, they are aiming to kill you, like any other villain you've dealt with."

Katsuki and Shoto both hesitated upon hearing this. Sojiro gave them both a gentle, grandfatherly smile. "The fact that you both hesitate to take a life is admirable." He promised them. "Never think otherwise. Not wanting to take a life is not weakness. In fact, many would argue it's a strength. In my homeland, we teach that if you must take a life, you must hesitate and not hesitate at the same time."

"Huh?" Katsuki frowned.

"It means that you need to take the time to consider all your options in dealing with your enemies." Sojiro explained. "But when you realize that ending the threat permanently is the only way, you cannot hesitate."

"The kind of life I-and many others-lead is not for everyone." Sojiro told them. "And I don't want people who aren't cut out for such things to ever experience that feeling if they don't have to. Even after you decide to take a life for the sake of another...the feeling is never a good one."

Yukiko groaned. "Couldn't disagree more, just saying." She said to the old man. "There's nothing better than holding power of someone else's life. It's a rush you just can't get anywhere else."

"And this is what I mean when I call you a weed, girl." Sojiro responded.

"Achieve results, no matter who you have to step over. That's how we do things." Yukiko told Sojiro. "Virtue and sentiment are for fools. Virtue and sentiment don't achieve results."

"I'm well aware of how you lot do things." Sojiro promised, dropping into his battle stance. "Now then, come forth. I'll end all four of you. Children, and I assume their teacher, please stay behind me. I can't protect any of you effectively if you're going to fight without fully preparing yourselves for the kind of fight this is."

Katsuki and Shoto both looked at each other and stepped back to the rest of their group. "Please, be careful, sir." Shoto said to the old man.

Sojiro nodded and glared down the four cultists. Yukiko narrowed her eyes. _We're at a severe disadvantage here._ She noted. _I'm low on Reiki. Ishimura can't use his Art without dropping this wall. That just leaves Nanaba and Nijimi who can fight effectively. And this old man is no joke. I can tell that much._

Nanaba stepped forward, summoning two dice in his hands. "Well, let's see if I'm lucky today." He mused. "Maybe I'll roll a double six."

Yukiko frowned. _He'll just blow back Nanaba's dice with his punches. He's strong enough to do that much. Damn, I guess there's no choice here. Time for the element of surprise...and a strategic retreat._

Nanaba gasped as Yukiko suddenly grabbed him by the collar. "Yukiko?" Nanaba looked at her in surprise.

Nijimi and Ishimura looked at Yukiko in confusion. "Sorry, Nanaba," Yukiko said to him, "but I'm cutting you loose!"

Nanaba yelled in surprise as Yukiko tossed him towards Sojiro, dice in hand. Sojiro gasped in surprise as Nanaba careened into him, dropping his dice in the process. Sojiro watched as the dice fell with two number sixes face up.

"Everyone get back!" Sojiro yelled, leaping back and leaving Nanaba next to his dice.

"Retreat!" Yukiko yelled at her two compatriots as they quickly vanished into a slipstream.

"NO!" Nanaba yelled in shock before being enveloped by a powerful blast. Ironically, from the result he had been hoping for. The students and homeroom teacher of Class 1-A were all knocked off their feet while Sojiro, who was closest to the blast, amazingly managed to remain standing.

As the dust settled, Yukiko, Nijimi and Ishimura had all escaped. However, poor Nanaba had been left charred and bloodied from his own attack. One look at him, and one could see that his wounds were fatal.

He gasped and wheezed in pain. A look of hate in his eyes. "Damn you...Yuki...ko." He growled before letting out one final breath before going still.

Eijirou Kirishima got to his feet and stared at Nanaba's body in disbelief. "What the hell man?!" He screamed in shock and disgust. "She sacrificed her own friend to escape?"

"I can't believe they were willing to go that far…" Mina Ashido muttered in horror, unable to pry her gaze away from Nanaba's body.

Sojiro recovered from taking the brunt of the blast and stared at Nanaba's body with a twinge of sympathy. "Awful a man you were for getting involved with that monstrous cult, nobody deserves to be betrayed by their own allies like that." He noted, before lowering his head in prayer. "I pray that you find peace in the afterlife...and perhaps at least a little bit of leniency from the gods for meeting such a tragic end."

Remembering he had people to look after, he turned his attention back to the students and teacher of Class 1-A. "Are you all alright?" He inquired. "Is anyone injured?"

"No, sir, we all got out just fine." Momo responded. "Thanks to you anyway."

"Who are you exactly?" Tsuyu and Ochaco joined up with their classmates. Tsuyu continued to speak. "Not that we're not grateful, but...I've never heard of you. Are you some sort of underground pro hero? A vigilante, maybe, like that Knuckleduster guy?"

Sojiro shook his head. "I...doubt you'd believe me if I told you who I was and where I was from." He admitted.

"Try us." Shoto folded his arms. "We just fought and barely survived against four people whose powers seemed to surpass Quirks. In case you haven't noticed, we're kind of ready to believe just about anything right now."

"Smart boy." Sojiro chuckled. "Well, if we meet up again, perhaps I will tell you everything."

"Why not tell us now?" Katsuki frowned.

"Because it seems I still have other duties to attend to." Sojiro explained. "And furthermore, I very much want to meet All Might's successor. I just have to meet the young man that the world's number one hero seems to have so much faith in."

Katsuki's eyes widened. Deku. He was talking about Deku. Did this old geezer already know about All Might and his Quirk? Just who was this guy?

"Anyway, I trust you all can get to safety on your own." Sojiro said to them. "Thankfully, I expect the tide to be turning about now. That Time Seal I used worked better than I could have ever imagined."

"The hell is a Time Seal?" Rikido Sato wondered.

"Sounds like something out of a manga." Hanta Sero noted.

Sojiro then vanished from their sight. Shoto and Katsuki both gasped in unison. This old geezer...was as fast as All Might. Seriously, who the hell was this guy?

Meanwhile, back at UA High, if there was one thing that could be said about the people defending that school was that they had all put up a good fight. And at least they could die knowing the student body had all gotten away in time.

But now they were cornered, with their backs against the wall, injured and unable to fight any longer. The only two who were still trying to stand and fight were Kamui Woods and Edgeshot, a testament to their high-rankings as heroes. However, in the end, the superior numbers of the Cultists had overwhelmed them all, leaving them battered, bruised, and bloodied. It was all over now. The villains had won.

The shark-like Cultist just laughed. "GG, heroes, GG." He sarcastically applauded. "But I'm afraid our little game ends here."

Kamui Woods snarled. "Bastard!" He yelled. "Is that all this is to you? Just a game?"

The shark-man frowned toothily, showing off his carnivorous fangs. "Well, okay, I guess a game would be kinda inappropriate." He admitted. "Quick question, have you ever had something like a religious crusade in this world? I think that would be a more appropriate way to describe what we're doing, right fellas?"

This made the other Cultists laugh in agreement. "See, in every world we've been to, we've found that throughout its history, there was always some sort of religious crusade against nonbelievers. Always made me laugh actually. People got so pissed at religions, they failed to realize that it was more the fact that people believed in something and hated others for not believing the same thing. It really doesn't matter what it is: religion, money, kings, queens, people believe in something and there are always going to be the folks that take it to the point where they hate those who don't believe in it."

"And isn't that what you're doing?" Edgeshot demanded, ignoring what the shark guy said about there being other worlds.

"Well, we don't really hate anyone." The shark-man admitted. "Well, maybe we hate the folks who stopped us several thousand years ago. But other than those guys, we don't hate anyone. We're just doing this because we want to kill people, as our faith calls for it. It doesn't matter if people agree with us or not. Our faith calls for us to slaughter. It's that simple."

"And you guys...are just another bunch of additions to a big, big body count."

"Not today, villains!" A grandiose voice announced.

One by one, the defending Pro Heroes gasped in disbelief. That voice, that familiar voice. It could not be.

Something suddenly sped by the Cultists, knocking them into the air one by one. A muscular mass appeared behind the airborne Cultists, who were already falling limply to the ground, beaten and knocked out cold.

Cementoss was the first to get over his surprise and speak up. "All Might?!" He exclaimed in disbelief. "Is that you?"

All Might turned and showed his face to the heroes. They all gaped in disbelief. "This can't be…" Edgeshot muttered.

"Have no fear my fellow heroes, help as arrived." All Might told them, giving them his trademark reassuring smile and a thumbs up. "Because I am here."

All Might heard a sudden explosion in the distance. He saw a massive amount of flames suddenly spring up. "Looks like that's where the worst of it is happening." He noted before addressing the heroes once more. "Rest up, I'll take it from here."

All Might vanished before anyone could say anything to him. As All Might sped to the location of that particular battle, he could not help but smile widely. "It's all back...my strength, my power...it's all back." He noted with childlike glee. "I can fight to my fullest once again!"

Elsewhere, Yukiko and her remaining compatriots continued their strategic retreat from Sojiro. "Hey, Yuki." Nijimi spoke up, stopping them all. "Did...we really have to sacrifice Nanaba to get away from that guy?"

"You sensed his power like I did." Yukiko insisted. "We weren't going to win that fight, not with how exhausted Ishimura and I were."

Nijimi sighed. "Yeah, but Nanaba was our comrade. Living in the shadows all these years...all we had was each other." She reminded Yukiko. "Was sacrificing him like that easy?"

"We all know that we live and die for the sake of our faith's ambitions!" Yukiko yelled angrily at Nijimi. "Remember what I said! Virtue and sentiment are useless, even if we did live together for years."

"Now come on," Yukiko gestured for Nijimi and the silent Ishimura to follow her again, "we're heading back and reporting that there are Travelers in this world."

"Oh? So you're running away from the fight to pass on some info?" A playful woman's voice spoke up. "I hate to tell you, dear Yuki, but the higher-ups already know about the Travelers."

All three Cultists froze and paled in terror at that familiar voice. A woman dressed in similar garbs was sitting on the edge of a building. She quickly leapt off and landed gracefully on the ground, revealing beautiful blood red hair and black eyes. In another life, she would have made a beautiful model. However, beneath her playful smile, all three Cultists knew there was danger.

"B-Bishop Chiharu," Yukiko muttered fearfully, "Umm...what are you doing here? I would've thought you'd still be fighting in the city with the other Bishops?"

Chiharu laughed richly. "Well, if you must know, I've cleaned house in this area, so I'm taking a little stroll to wherever I can find the next life to snuff out." She said casually.

Chiharu then gazed at them knowingly. "So, why are you three retreating? Don't tell me that Traveler was too much for you."

"He...was." Yukiko nodded. "In fact, he'd probably be a match for you, Bishop."

"Interesting," Chiharu hummed thoughtfully at this.

"Indeed, there aren't many who can match you Bishops." Ishimura noted, trying to help Yukiko save face.

"Oh, that's not the interesting thing, Ishi." Chiharu told him. "It's just...I could've sworn there were four of you when you were deployed. Wasn't Nanaba with you three?"

"Oh, yes, Ma'am." Yukiko nodded frantically. "But...while we fought our best, Nanaba unfortunately lost his life. We barely managed to escape."

"Is that right?" Chiharu frowned. "You're not lying to me, right Yuki?"

"N-no, never to you, Ma'am." Yukiko promised, lying through her teeth.

"Hmm...I mean at first glance your story checks out. You do have a few scrapes, therefore you do look like you've been in a fight." Chiharu was the only person they knew that could make thinking look terrifying. She looked so sweet...yet they knew she could be contemplating murder.

"However," Chiharu's sweet smile turned vicious, "if you claim you fought until the end and Nanaba lost his life in the process, there's one thing that just doesn't make sense to me."

"W-what's that?" Yukiko asked nervously.

"Why do you not look like you lost the fight?" Chiharu inquired knowingly.

All three Cultists paled. "See, everyone gets hurt in battle. Everyone bleeds." Chiharu pointed out, reaching into her sleeve. "But...to lose means to be broken. And tell me, do you three truly look broken?"

"I...can explain." Yukiko tried to talk her way out of this increasingly bad situation.

"Oh by all means, Yuki, explain to me why you ran from a fight and got poor, poor Nanaba killed in the process." Chiharu teased. "Actually, don't tell me."

"You're all going to die either way." Chiharu's words felt like nails being hammered into a coffin as she brandished a dagger before them.

"Oh no…" Ishimura moaned in horror, realizing what that dagger meant. "P-please! Bishop Chiharu! I beg you, anything but that! Not that!"

"Yes, that." Chiharu said, darkly chipper as she quickly sliced her wrist open with the dagger.

Shockingly, no blood came out from the wound. At least, for awhile it did not. Then, blood shot out from her slit wrist like a lance that went straight into the forehead of Ishimura before he could react. Nijimi screamed in terror as the blood lance retracted. Ishimura collapsed, dead.

"Bishop Chiharu!" Yukiko screamed in fright. "Please, ma'am, have mercy!"

"This is mercy, dear Yuki," Chiharu insisted, "death is supposed to mean something. And you three made Nanaba's death meaningless. You don't deserve it, but I'm going to at least make your death mean something."

"N-no!" Yukiko yelled. "Nanaba's despair at being betrayed meant something! His negative emotions will be nourishment!"

"Just as yours will be." Chiharu promised. "But...you really should've all gone down together. That kind of death would've meant so much to our god you know. Failing together, in spite of all your efforts. But instead, you ran away and left one of your own to die."

"But now, your death will mean something. You will die to one of your leaders as punishment. You will die knowing that all three of you are failures, your names reviled."

"NO!" Nijimi screamed. "Not like this, please Bishop Chiharu!"

"Accept your end with a little dignity, Niji." Chiharu calmly told her.

"NO!" Nijimi repeated, spinning around. "Green Light!"

Nijimi enveloped herself in a green light and vanished in a burst of light. Green Light had increased her speed. Chiharu sighed and vanished with Vanishing Walk, appearing right next to the retreating Nijimi. Her slit wrist opened up once more and transformed into a blade. Calmly, Chiharu swung the blade right into Nijimi's back, slicing it open and severing her spine in the process. "AGH!" Nijimi yelled and choked in pain as she fell to the ground.

Chiharu calmly landed next to her and nonchalantly drove her blood blade into Nijimi once more, killing her instantly. "Nijimi!" Yukiko yelled in horror as Chiharu turned her attention to her.

"And that leaves you, Yuki." Chiharu calmly told her.

"Please, Bishop Chiharu, I just wanted to stay alive and continue serving our faith!" Yukiko pleaded. "I'm begging you! Have mercy!"

"Mercy? I do believe that's not something we are called to do." Chiharu noted, walking up to Yukiko with her blade at the ready.

Yukiko sputtered incoherently, desperately trying to find some kind of thing to say that will allow Chiharu to spare her life. Then, a large mass leapt down behind her and grabbed her. "What?" Yukiko looked over her shoulder and saw another familiar face.

Two fangs moved towards her neck. "No, please!" Yukiko pleaded.

The fangs sunk into her neck. Yukiko twisted, gasped and moaned as she felt her blood and Reiki leave her body. Her body seemed to age until she was left as a dry husk. The man let go of her and let the dead Yukiko collapse to the ground.

Chiharu's smile turned more genuine at the sight of the man, a pale-faced man with red eyes and slicked back black hair. "My lord Ryuketsu." Chiharu said fondly.

Bishop Ryuketsu heaved a sigh at his latest meal. "Her blood was as cold as she was." He mused.

Ryuketsu calmly stepped over Yukiko's body towards Chiharu. "You always seem to find some way to occupy your time with service to our faith, Chiharu." He noted. "Well done, as always. Your work is an example to us all."

Chiharu bowed lowly, blushing slightly. "Your praise means the world to me, Lord Ryuketsu." She told him.

Chiharu then looked up at him with a wild gleam in her eyes. "So, could you perhaps reward your fellow Bishop by drinking my blood as well?" She eagerly requested. " Oh, to be one with you like that would be a dream come true!"

"Thirsty as always, Chi?" Chiharu and Ryuketsu turned to see a face familiar to the both of them. Chiharu frowned at her moment being interrupted while Ryuketsu just sighed.

"Taking a break, Ibuki?" Ryuketsu frowned. "You lack the same dedication and drive Chiharu does. It would benefit you to learn from her."

"Oh, always so serious, Ketsu." Ibuki pouted. "All my kills today have come so easy that I got bored. I take it that's the story with you two as well?"

Chiharu nodded while Ryuketsu shrugged. "We do not come to these places for combat. We come here to take lives in hopes that it completes our ambition." He reminded the two women. "Such selfishness has no place among us."

"Yeah, but after today, I'm starting to understand how Cardinal Shido feels." Ibuki admitted. "If this was easy for us, I don't want to imagine how he must feel. He must be bored out of his mind in a place like this. I actually feel bad for him, you know?"

"Cardinal Shido understands his role as an executioner, we all do." Ryuketsu insisted.

Ibuki had to laugh at that. "Well, of course Cardinal Shido understands his role as an executioner." She noted. "He's probably got the highest kill count among his fellow Cardinals. Can you imagine how insane it would be if he killed all those people and didn't know exactly what the hell he was doing? Now _that_ would actually be pretty messed up."

"Don't let the other Triads hear you claim Cardinal Shido has the highest kill count, Ibuki." Chiharu told her. "You'll start an argument."

"Especially when you don't know for certain." Ryuketsu added, making Ibuki pout. "After all, we've seen all four Cardinals kill countless people. Putting an exact number to them would be impossible."

"But I can't deny you also have a point." Ryuketsu admitted. "Cardinal Shido practically makes death an art form. If there is a clear winner, I have no doubt it would be him."

Chiharu frowned in jealousy at Ryuketsu's admiration for his Cardinal. "And that is because...he tries his hardest to find meaning in death...and in his work."

Meanwhile, the young-looking Cardinal known as Shido brushed the soot off his body. "I must admit, I could feel you singing the hairs off my body." He mused. "For a while, I honestly thought I was going to enjoy this."

Shido then stared at the bloodied, downed hero before him. "But in the end, your flame burned out far too early, Flame Hero Endeavor."

Endeavor gazed up at Shido in anger and disbelief. Nothing worked. He hit him, point blank, with a Prominence Burn attack, and the crazy bastard had just shrugged it off like it was nothing. Endeavor knew he had become stronger since assuming the position of the number one hero. In fact, a part of him wanted to believe he could have actually done a little bit of damage to that villain who had been All Might's final battle.

Then this guy came into the picture and brought everything crashing down. He was just too damn strong. And what in God's name was that power of his? Endeavor had never seen anything like it in his life.

Shido heaved a sigh. "I guess the search continues." He mused before chanting. "My right hand is a guillotine, taking the heads of my foes. Executioner's Hand."

Shido's hand transformed into a large blade that shone brightly as it bore down on Endeavor's neck. "Die." He said calmly, dispassionately.

Shido's eyes went wide when he sensed a lifeform speeding towards him. What shocked him was the sheer velocity behind it. Whoever that was...was as fast as him.

"SMASH!" Endeavor's eyes widened at the familiar voice as Shido was forced to retreat from Endeavor, his hand returned to normal.

Endeavor looked up at his savior in shock, recognizing him immediately. "All Might?" He exclaimed in disbelief, wondering if his imminent death was making him hallucinate. "But how?"

"I'll explain everything Endeavor, just rest up." All Might told him. "And...sorry I have to hurt your pride like this. And to think you had just become the number one hero too. I'm sorry I have to take that away from you."

Endeavor gazed at All Might in disbelief. Never had he expected All Might to have been paying attention to his ambitions for all these years. He frowned. "You idiot," he growled, "I was striving to be my own symbol of peace, remember? Like the title matters to me anymore."

All Might smiled, hearing that. It appeared that Endeavor took his advice to heart. "I am glad you're back, you fool." Endeavor admitted. "Much as I hate to admit it...this world has missed you."

All Might chuckled and turned his attention to Shido, who was already gazing at All Might in interest. "All Might? The Symbol of Peace?" Shido raised a curious eyebrow. "Interesting, we were given information that you had retired. Don't tell me that All For One lied to us."

All Might was briefly taken aback that this guy knew All For One. That meant they were working together. He regained his composure, refusing to let All For One influence his actions. "And that information was correct." All Might admitted. "However, recent events have allowed me to come _out_ of retirement."

Shido nodded. "So it would seem...I wonder if those damn Travelers that Higeki mentioned had anything to do with this."

 _Travelers? What are those? I've never heard of anything like that._

"Who are you exactly, villain?" All Might inquired. "As the world's Symbol of Peace, I make it my business to know every villain and organization in existence, so that I may bring them to justice."

Shido could not help but smirk. "I'm afraid you wouldn't learn a thing about me or my people in your world, no matter how hard you may try." Shido told him. "I'm sure you realized it by now, All Might, but these foes you've been facing, are not of your world. We don't even use Quirks like you do."

All Might gazed at Shido in disbelief. "Come now, surely you must've realized it. Our limits are our own strength. We fight until we run out of energy." Shido pointed out. "And that is not how you Quirk-users fight, right? Yes, I've definitely had the chance to learn about the limits of Quirk-users since coming to this world."

"Say I believe you, what do I call you?" All Might demanded.

Shido chuckled lowly. "Technically, we're called Watchers." He revealed. "However, our...intentions make us outcasts among our own people. We've spent years in the shadows, building up our strength once more."

"Point is, we don't consider ourselves the same race as the rest of our people." Shido revealed. "You can still call us Watchers if you wish, but remember the true name of those who will bring the death of your world and others like yours."

"We are the Cult of the End." Shido announced.

"Cult of...the End?" Endeavor gazed at Shido, wondering if everything he had said was true, or he was simply that crazy.

All Might scoffed. "Whether you're from a different world or not, whether there are even other worlds or not, it all means nothing to me."

"What you have done is a crime so ruthless that all decent people should come together to condemn you! Even villains who have not fallen completely into depravity will condemn you all!" All Might explained. "You've attacked this city, slaughtered thousands of innocent people just trying to live their lives, and you have the nerve to act like you don't have a care in the world!"

"I won't let your evil continue, villain!" All Might declared.

"My name is Shido!" Shido introduced himself properly with a wicked smirk. "I am one of the Four Cardinals of D, the Cardinal of Death. If you think you can make me pay for what you view as sin, then I welcome you to try, All Might!"

All Might leapt from his spot towards Shido. "My right arm is an unbreakable shield that defends me from all attacks!" Shido chanted. "Immovable Shield!"

A massive, medieval-like shield formed around Shido's arm. "Detroit Smash!" All Might yelled, throwing a powerful punch that collided with Shido's shield.

Shido gasped slightly, feeling the shield crack around his arm. The force of All Might's punch blew him off his feet, several feet away from the hero. Shido managed to land on his feet. He watched as his Immovable Shield slowly fell apart. _I don't believe it, nobody's ever destroyed my shield before..._

Then, he felt something race inside of his body...his heart. "What is this?" He muttered before exclaiming with glee. "Is my heart racing?!"

All Might gazed at Shido in confusion. "I see!" Shido yelled happily. "So this is what it's like to have your heart race in the heat of battle!"

"This is wonderful!" Shido said in a twisted, joyous tone of voice. "Everything's come so easy to me lately! As the invincible executioner of the End, there aren't many people who can actually challenge me! Make me work for their death!"

"But that strength...oh yes, All Might, you've actually made me excited for the kill for the first time in so long!" Shido revealed. "You have my gratitude!"

 _This kid is insane._ Endeavor noted.

All Might gazed at his fist. _Even if I sent him flying, he shrugged off my Detroit Smash like it was nothing. Even villains like Toxic Chainsaw, who got a few good hits in, still stumbled after taking the full force of a Smash attack. He's different though. The only other villain I've fought that's taken a full-powered Smash head on without trouble was All For One._

All Might did not count that Nomu because of how weak he was at that point in time.

"Let us continue! I want to continue experiencing how joyful my purpose can actually be!" Shido yelled, holding out his hands and rushing towards All Might. "My fingers are ten swords that will tear my opponent's flesh off their bones!"

"Ten Divine Swords!" Shido yelled as his fingers transformed into long swords.

"What the hell is that power?" All Might muttered. "First he created a shield, then swords?"

"All Might, be careful, he can do much more!" Endeavor yelled, putting All Might on guard.

All Might rocketed into the air as Shido sped towards him. Shido stopped in his tracks and pivoted to where All Might was landing. "HYAH!" He yelled, swinging five of his Ten Divine Swords at All Might.

All Might crossed his arms and took the force of the swing head on. He winced, feeling the blades cut through his skin slightly. He looked over his shoulder to see a building behind him reduced to rubble from Shido's attack cutting right through it.

Shido quickly moved his other five divine swords to the front. Yelling, he swung upwards, sending a shockwave that tore across the ground. All Might sped out of the way and flexed his right arm. He crouched down and leapt towards Shido. "Florida Smash!" All Might yelled, delivering a powerful lariat right into Shido, knocking the Cardinal off balance.

All Might then raised his hand into the air. With his muscular build, he looked like a mountain, with his raised hand the peak. "Colorado Smash!" All Might yelled, swinging his arm down like a karate chop.

Shido grunted as he took the chop to the head. The force of the karate-chop pushed the earth down around them, creating a massive crater.

Shido's eyes contorted into a wicked gleam as he recovered from All Might's Colorado Smash attack. "That hurt!" He yelled, holding his hand up to All Might's chest. "My right arm becomes a thousand! Wrapping and squeezing all who are unlucky enough to get in their clutches! Kraken's Arms!"

Shido's right arm transformed into multiple tentacles that slammed into All Might, wrapping around him and pushing him away from the Cardinal. "There's a rather tasteless joke about this somewhere, but my image as a role model to children prohibits me from making it." All Might mused before grabbing onto the tentacles.

With a powerful yank, Shido was pulled off his feet and All Might was allowed to land on the ground. Now in control, All Might began spinning Shido around and around. Shido yelled with a mixture of surprise but also glee as he allowed All Might to have his 'fun.'

All Might then dug his feet into the ground. "Fly away!" All Might yelled, tossing Shido through multiple buildings.

Shido grunted as he flew through the buildings. He then recovered and planted his feet on the next building. He just laughed in pure excitement.

 _Throughout my entire life, everything has just come so easy._ He mused. _Being born gifted...it sounds so wonderful at the time, especially when your built up as someone who can make your people's dreams a reality!_

 _But what happens when your purpose in life is easy? Is that truly fulfilling? Does that make for an enjoyable life! No! I want to experience what the weak experience! What my victims experience! What it's like to struggle to survive! To fight for your very life until the end! I want to know just what makes life and death meaningful, beyond the purpose it serves my faith!_

 _All Might, you are going to show me_ _ **all**_ _of that!_ Shido declared with a darkly happy gleam in his eyes as he rocketed forwards, the building collapsing behind him.

All Might narrowed his eyes as Shido rocketed towards him. "He's just not going to give up, huh?" All Might muttered, cocking his fist back. "Well, neither will I."

"My right arm is the arm of a giant, smashing all my enemies!" Shido chanted. "Titan's Fist!"

Shido's right arm expanded into a giant, muscular right arm. All Might narrowed his eyes. "Detroit Smash!" All Might yelled as his fist collided with Shido's.

The impact sounded out with a loud boom. The force was so great that windows everywhere, within a ten-mile radius, were all blown out. A few buildings close to "ground zero" even collapsed.

Endeavor gaped in disbelief. For one thing, he was genuinely happy to see his rival back in action, and clearly back at full strength. However, it was quite another for him to realize that the monster All Might was fighting was actually going toe to toe with him.

They were both monsters...and Endeavor could not hope to compare to either of them. But right now, he simply did not care. All Might was back, perhaps the world had a chance now.

Elsewhere, Noriko briefly looked up, sensing the commotion far away from the field hospital she had ended up at. "Strange, I only sense one Reiki signature in that fight." She muttered. "That one's strong though, as strong as that Cardinal we ran into back in the previous world. Whoever's going toe to toe with them in a fight must be something else…"

Noriko's eyes widened, sensing two other particularly strong energy signatures. "Grandmaster Sojiro's I recognize...still strong, but you can tell that it's in the process of fading away."

Noriko looked out into the distance where the other was. "So who's the third Reiki signature?" She wondered out loud.

Noriko was cut from her thoughts when she heard whimpering. She looked down to see the injured child she had been tending to. The poor thing had apparently been caught in a bad explosion and had been written off by the other doctors at the field hospital, much like a lot of the other patients. At least, until Noriko had showed up. "That's right, I can't lose focus. I've got a job to do." Noriko muttered.

 _I became a medic specifically to avoid conflict. I'd much prefer working behind the scenes in hospitals where I don't have to deal with stress like war._ Noriko shook her head. _Even so, I can't ignore things like this. And luckily, keeping people alive is my specialty._

Noriko put the finishing touches on healing the child up. He would still have burn marks for awhile, but he would live. The scars and markings would fade. The important thing was that his life was still his.

Noriko gave the boy's mother, who had been standing close by, beside herself with worry, a weary smile and a thumbs-up. "He's going to be fine." She said. "Just let him rest up, and make sure nobody shames him for having to live with the scars and marks for awhile."

The mother ended up a blubbering mess as she ran to her son, cradling him protectively. "Oh, God bless you, Miss." The woman whimpered.

Noriko nodded. "It's what I do." She brushed the matter off.

Noriko looked out to the third Reiki signature. "Strange," she muttered, "there's something familiar about it...but I just can't seem to put my finger on it."

Noriko shook her head. "There I go again, spacing out." She groaned in frustration with herself. "I'm in a hospital, I've got no time to space out."

 _Still, if the Grandmaster doesn't realize it yet, he should look into it. Whoever that Reiki signature is…_

Noriko shook those thoughts out of her mind and called out. "Hey, any other patients written off yet?" She called out. "I've got two free hands, ready to get back to work!"

As Noriko moved to her next patient, two volunteers gazed at her in disbelief. "Still can't believe they just let some random girl off the street come in and start healing people." One muttered.

"Dude, she's healing people doctors have written off as fatally injured. You can't deny she's been getting results. At this point, I don't care who she is or where she's from. Hell, she can be from Mars for all I care and I'd still be thankful she's around." His friend pointed out. "She saved that kid."

"...Yeah, you're right. Still kinda strange though."

Back at the fight between All Might and Shido, the two separated and took a moment to gaze at the result of their last clash. "Magnificent." Shido said, genuine in his praise. "You, All Might, make battle an art form."

All Might remained silent. Shido then smirked. "If you're this strong...and your Quirk only grows stronger as it goes from user to user, I can't even begin to imagine how strong your successor is going to be."

That got a reaction out of All Might. Endeavor gaped in confusion. _Successor?_

Shido then delivered a line that made All Might pale in horror. "Izuku Midoriya, that's the name of your successor, right? I can't even _begin_ to imagine him at full potential if he's supposed to surpass you in every way."

"I should've known." All Might growled. "If you are working with All For One, of course you would know my Quirk's secret."

Shido chuckled. "Don't worry, I have no intention of going after him just yet." He promised. "For the first time in years, I felt joy in doing my duty to my faith."

"And so, All Might, I'm going to wait and see just how powerful Izuku Midoriya will become. Once he's reached his potential, then I'll kill him. A battle with someone that powerful...oh, now that will truly bring joy to my boring life."

"Ever considered getting a new hobby?" All Might snarkily inquired.

Shido laughed out loud at that. "I'll have you know I actually do enjoy reading classical works I've taken from worlds we've purged!" He admitted. "Up until today, they were the only things I could find any semblance of joy in!"

Shido was cut off from his rantings from a voice in his head. _"Cardinal Shido, the situation is worsening by the second! Two Watchers are taking out all our Acolytes."_

" _Hmph, between that and All Might, it looks like the situation has indeed turned for the worse."_ Shido acknowledged. _"After the incidents in Remnant, that kind of resistance was to be expected. But for the tide to turn so easily...it seems you Acolytes and Deacons need to be disciplined and then trained harder so this doesn't happen again."_

" _Er...right, of course, Cardinal Shido."_ The Cultist acknowledged.

" _But, have all forces retreat for now. Live to fight another day."_ Shido ordered. _"We can purge this world at our leisure. No need to die pointless deaths right now."_

" _Understood, Cardinal, I'll give the order, right now."_

Shido heaved a sigh as the mental connection was severed. "Well, damn, it looks like we need to save this for another time. I just ordered a full retreat for my men." He admitted. "A shame, I was truly starting to enjoy myself. I'd say that I now see why All For One is so fixated on you...but we both know his obsession is for far different reasons."

All Might narrowed his eyes at the mention of his nemesis. Shido chuckled. "But really though, All Might, I must thank you." He admitted. "For the first time in years, I truly felt...happy while doing my job."

A black mist showed up behind Shido, making him gasp in slight surprise. "Ah, Mr. Kurogiri. So you've come to collect me?"

Kurogiri, the former second-in-command of the League of Villains, now free to commit villainy like All For One, appeared in his usual snazzy bartender suit, the only human thing about his black, misty body. "Since you are retreating, the Master would like to speak with you. He has a few questions he'd like answered."

"Does he now?" Shido chuckled before gazing at All Might. "I think I already have the answers."

Kurogiri gazed at All Might in disbelief, but managed to keep his focus long enough to open a black portal. "Do you really think I intend to let you leave after threatening Izuku?" All Might demanded.

"Well, you can try to come after me, but I can promise you this, you will die." Shido replied darkly. "All Might, there are several others whose strength matches mine. And while we're on the subject...there is one who surpasses all of us: our leader, the Archbishop."

All Might's eyes widened. Someone stronger than Shido? What kind of monster was stronger than Shido? "Got your attention, eh?" Shido grinned in amusement. "If you thought All For One was a nightmare to fight. Hell, if you think I'm frightening in battle-and believe me, I'm well aware that to most I am-well...I'll leave it up to your imagination on how much of a terror the Archbishop is."

"So, don't even bother trying to follow me. It won't end well for you" Shido told him. "You may be the Symbol of Peace, but you are _nothing_ compared to the Archbishop."

Shido stepped inside the black mist, which began to close around him. "Best be careful though." He grinned. "If you're really unlucky, a chance encounter with him could prove quite fatal. And I'd hate for you to die before I kill you myself."

With that, the black mist vanished. All Might heaved a relieved sigh. "Do you really think he meant it when he said he ordered a full retreat?" Endeavor wondered.

"He didn't strike me as the dishonest type." All Might shrugged.

"A _villain_ didn't strike you as dishonest?" Endeavor gazed at All Might in disbelief.

All Might laughed. "Does sound kind of crazy when you put it like that, huh? I think his number one goal was getting his sick kicks though. Nothing to gain from lying to me." He mused, before walking over and lifting Endeavor up onto his back. Not caring that Endeavor still had his Quirk active somewhat.

"So it's really you, huh?" Endeavor inquired. "You're really back."

"A lot has happened, Endeavor." All Might told him. "A lot that I still don't fully understand, to be honest. But...I'll see if I can track down the one who made this possible. He'll be able to explain it better than I can."

"Although that's not really a priority at the moment," All Might continued, "I need to go to the safehouse I was being escorted to. I need to see if Izuku made it there safely."

Endeavor narrowed his eyes. "So, what he said about that kid that fought Shoto."

"It was all true." All Might acknowledged. "I'm trusting you with this knowledge because of how high up you are in the hero community, Endeavor."

"You have no choice but to trust me with this knowledge, considering how much of a chatterbox that guy was." Endeavor reminded him. "So, you wanna tell me the whole story."

"It's a long one."

"I'm kinda stuck with you for now." Endeavor let a small smirk fall on his lips. "Not like I have much of a choice.

Speaking of Izuku, the young hero-in-training and the two men accompanying him had finally reached the safehouse, with Tsukauchi getting them in with a passcode. Izuku was immediately treated to a familiar face running up to give him a hug.

"My baby!" Inko Midoriya wailed with relief.

"Mom?!" Izuku gasped in shock.

Gran Torino jetted up to them. "Sorry, Deku," he said, "things were getting tense and she just would not stop asking me to leave her and protect you instead. I thought it would calm her down if she ended up at the safehouse you were supposed to be taken to."

Izuku got over his surprise and smiled thankfully. "I'm not mad, thank you for looking after my mom, Gran Torino."

Gran Torino smiled slightly. "No worries, kid."

"Izuku," Inko got her son's attention, "what is going on. Why is this old man treating you like you're some sort of VIP? Why were you supposed to be brought to a safehouse of all things? Is there something you're not telling me?"

Izuku looked and felt so guilty, seeing his mom's face. It was a mixture of betrayal and worry. He almost shook his head out of instinct, only to feel a hand on his shoulder. It was from Tenya, who was giving him a reassuring smile. Izuku nodded with a smile of his own. Now with his mind cleared, Izuku realized that the situation had changed. He took notice of the many people in the safehouse, all police officers and government agents, and decided they first needed a change of scenery.

"Detective Tsukauchi, is there anywhere I can speak with my mother...alone?"

Tsukauchi nodded and gestured to a small room in the back. "Soundproof and everything." He told Izuku.

"Izuku," Tenya spoke up, "if you don't mind, I'd like to be included in this conversation. There are...some things I'd like to confirm."

Izuku nodded in understanding, realizing that Tenya was close to figuring it out on his own. Inko looked at Tenya in confusion. "Who are you?" She asked.

Tenya smiled politely and bowed. "I'm Tenya Iida, a classmate of your son's." He admitted. "And if I may be frank, a man who is very lucky to have him as a friend."

"Tenya…" Izuku smiled at how highly Tenya thought of him.

Izuku then walked towards the room Tsukauchi had gestured to. Inko and Tenya followed him inside. Izuku and Inko both took a seat at a table with two chairs while Tenya leaned up against a wall nearby.

"Now, you're going to tell me everything, right?" Inko narrowed her eyes.

Izuku smiled and nodded. "Everything." He promised.

Tenya sighed. "Then perhaps I should start by asking you to confirm something, Izuku." Tenya told him.

Deciding to play dumb, Izuku egged him on. "And what is that, Tenya?"

"After everything you had told me earlier, and after everything we experienced along the way to this safehouse, I've had a chance to think things over." Tenya explained. "And the picture is starting to become clearer to me the more I think about it."

Izuku remained silent, allowing Tenya to continue. "You said you were born Quirkless, and then someone gave you a Quirk. The enemy treats you as a high-priority target that must be eliminated, that enemy including some of All Might's worst enemies apparently." Tenya recounted. "And then there's the fact that All Might's always seemed to have been in your corner, from day one, in fact. And the same year you start UA, is the same year All Might is forced into retirement due to 'injuries in battle', when he's been viewed as an invincible hero for years, with plenty of proof to back that up."

Izuku nodded while Inko gazed at Izuku and Tenya in confusion. Tenya heaved a sigh and came right out with it. "Your Quirk was given to you by All Might, wasn't it?" He asked bluntly. "And because of that, you have been given the responsibility to succeed him as the next Symbol of Peace."

 **AN: A lot to unpack here. All Might's back thanks to the efforts of Sojiro and some unknown seal master from the Watcher World. Tenya deduces the secret of One For All. The Cult of the End has retreated. And Noriko has sensed a Reiki-signature besides Sojiro and the Cultists. What does this all mean? Guess you'll have to find out next time.**


	11. Chapter 11: The Truth

**Chapter 11: The Truth**

Inko Midoriya fell silent at the boy named Tenya's declaration. Izuku's Quirk, her son's Quirk, given to him by All Might? That made no sense. And now he was being trusted to take over as the Symbol of Peace. That made even _less_ sense, even if All Might had stated his faith that Izuku would be the one to succeed him.

Inko looked at her son, expecting him to just laugh and say that Tenya had it all wrong. She paled when she noticed the somber, resigned expression on Izuku's face. Izuku chuckled humorlessly, giving Tenya a tired smile. "I really should've figured," he said, "you always had a good head on your shoulders, Tenya. I should've known that as soon as I even gave you a few hints about the truth, you'd put the pieces together on your own."

Tenya gave Izuku a somber frown. "Then...it's all true?"

Izuku nodded. "Yeah," he said, making Inko's heart drop in horror, "I _was_ born Quirkless. And I was cursed to _stay_ Quirkless. Then, in a twist of fate, I caught All Might's attention, his recognition, his admiration and respect, and well...here we are."

"That's...impossible." Izuku and Tenya heard Inko whisper before she repeated, much louder. "That's impossible!"

"Mom…" Izuku said softly, knowing that this had to be a lot for her to take in.

"Izuku, you told me that your Quirk manifested after a long time. That you were a late bloomer!" Inko reminded him. "You told me that it was rare, but possible! But All Might just giving you his Quirk?! _That's_ impossible!"

Tenya gazed at Inko in surprise. Something like that was unheard of, impossible even. Did Inko really buy something like that. Izuku shook his head. "Mom," he said sadly, "I'm sorry, the truth is...I lied to you when I told you that. _This_ -what you're hearing now-this is the real truth."

Inko fell silent. Her mouth open in disbelief. She then thundered at Izuku in righteous rage. " _You lied to your mother_?!"

Izuku shrieked at Inko's anger before the woman managed to calm herself. "S-sorry, force of habit." She muttered. "But really, Izuku, I raised you better than that."

"Mom," Izuku squeaked before continuing in a calmer, more confident tone of voice, "Mom, you have to believe me when I told you that I did not want to lie to you. I just...All Might's Quirk is special. I'm talking one of the best-kept-secrets kind of special. Until now, there were eight people who knew the truth about All Might and me: myself and All Might of course, Detective Tsukauchi, Gran Torino, Recovery Girl, Principal Nezu, Sir Nighteye, who is sadly gone, and Kacchan."

" _Katsuki_ knew before me?!" Inko could not believe that. Izuku's former friend turned bully found out before she did?

Tenya hummed thoughtfully. "That would explain Bakugou's behavior before the attacks." He mused. "Continue, Izuku."

Izuku nodded. "Mom, Tenya, I need you both to understand something. All Might's Quirk has potential to be the strongest weapon in the entire world." He explained.

"You all saw what All Might was capable of at his best. Even when he _wasn't_ , he was still practically a weapon of mass destruction who fights for the innocent and saves lives." Izuku reminded them. "His very presence was a deterrent for crime, because his Quirk was that powerful."

"The thing is," Izuku revealed, "in my hands, it has the potential to become even stronger. That's the true power behind this Quirk. One person adds to its strength, then passes it onto the next to further stockpile its power."

"Then...not only are you All Might's successor as the Symbol of Peace...you have the potential to surpass him in strength?" Tenya's eyes widened in realization.

Izuku nodded. Inko took a deep breath, trying to steady her breathing. "Okay," she said, "let's say I believe you."

Izuku and Tenya looked at Inko. "Is this why people are suddenly treating you like a VIP?" She asked. "Why that nice old midget escorted me here, of all places?"

Izuku nodded. "That was a request from me." He admitted. "I...needed to make sure you were kept safe."

Inko gazed sternly at Izuku. "From who, exactly?"

"From...the people who attacked us, of course." Izuku said nervously.

"Izuku, that's not what I mean." Inko shook her head. "The whole truth. Who were you afraid of attacking me?"

Izuku tightened his fists. "Sorry," he said, "I didn't mean to...it was just instinct at this point. I've been keeping this secret for so long, my instinct is to try to lie my way out of situations like these."

Izuku took a deep breath. "There are...also villains who know the secret about All Might's Quirk, and by extension, me." He admitted. "I'm probably a pretty high-priority target now. If something happens to me…"

"Then the world loses its strongest weapon against the forces of evil without even knowing it." Tenya's eyes widened in realization. "God, Izuku, do you even realize what kind of burden you've taken on? This is too much for one person to handle!"

Izuku sighed. "All Might had thought it was all over...he thought that he was leaving me a safer world to take over as the Symbol of Peace. Little did we know...the battle was just beginning. Little did we know, villainy is growing and not shrinking."

"And now my baby is a target!" Inko thundered, making Tenya leap from his seat.

However, her anger seemed to be directed at two people, one of whom, was not even here at the moment. However, Izuku was here, so he was going to feel her anger. "Mom, please calm down." Izuku told her. "Getting angry isn't going to help."

"I will not calm down!" Inko yelled. "Izuku, how could you agree to this?! How do you expect me to be okay with this?"

Izuku sighed. "To be honest, when I agreed to it, it was a purely selfish." He admitted. "I chose to accept All Might's Quirk because I was selfish."

Inko fell silent at this. "I...couldn't stand it." Izuku admitted. "God, I don't want to admit it, but the truth is, I hated being powerless. I hated the fact that I couldn't become a hero just because I was one of the unlucky minority who wasn't born without a Quirk."

"Izuku…" Tenya said softly. All it did was make him think how much he, and many others, took their Quirk for granted, compared to someone who was once Quirkless, like Izuku.

Nobody ever did really think about those who were left behind in this superhuman society. "So, when All Might looked me in the eye and told me that I could become a hero...I was just...overwhelmed with emotion. I so desperately wanted that power, I couldn't stop myself from saying no."

Inko looked like she wanted to cry. She knew being powerless wore on Izuku back then. She knew that her son had been spiraling down a dark road of depression due to his lack of a Quirk. And she knew she had been powerless to do anything about it. That was why she looked the other way at how inexplicable him getting a Quirk was. She just...wanted to believe that something from above took pity on him and made him a late bloomer. But this...she would have much rather he remained Quirkless.

However, there was something else she had to get off her chest. "Izuku, can you transfer this Quirk to someone else?"

Izuku nodded, knowing what was coming. "Okay," Inko nodded, "then we find someone else to take this burden from you."

"Mom, no," Izuku said firmly, immediately shooting that idea down.

"What do you mean no?" Inko demanded. "I am still your mother, young man! And if I think that this is for the best, you need to do it!"

"Mom, listen to yourself!" Izuku retorted. "You're talking about pushing this burden onto someone else! Are you seriously telling me you're okay with that?"

"I'm not saying just anyone else!" Inko told him. "I'm saying find a pro hero who can take it! What about Endeavor? Give it to the Number One Hero! That makes the most sense! All Might, and then Endeavor! One top-ranked hero to the next!"

Izuku shook his head. "Son, you can't be stubborn about this!" Inko yelled before noticing that tears were welling up in Izuku's eyes.

At that moment, Inko saw the emotionally shattered little boy who had just found out he was Quirkless. Her expression softened, but she was not done yet. She had to get her baby to see reason somehow. "Son," she said, "the people who attacked us today have killed thousands. They haven't released the death toll yet, but I know it's going to be in the thousands. These are not the villains you used to watch All Might fight."

"These people are monsters. Not villains, monsters." Inko reminded him. "And they're after you specifically. I refuse to allow you to carry a burden like this when I know there are people like that who are after you."

"Mom," Izuku said, mustering up his courage, "you don't understand. This Quirk...it's not something I can just give to anyone."

"The person who wields this Quirk has the responsibility to be the world's Symbol of Peace." Izuku explained. "Do you really think just anyone can handle something like that?"

"Oh, and I suppose you can?"

"Well, All Might certainly thinks I can, so I'm going to try!" Izuku declared before continuing. "Mom, I can't just hand this Quirk to anyone. Can you imagine what would happen if a power like this ended up in the wrong hands?"

Tenya paled. That was right. If a villain managed to get this power...God, it would be like dealing with All Might as a villain, and apparently it would be even worse if the Quirk grows in strength with each new wielder.

"So what, you're just going to take on this burden yourself?" Inko was now close to tears. "Izuku, you can't expect me to be okay with this."

"I would never expect you to be okay with this." Izuku assured her. "But...this is something I have to do."

"Then tell me why?" Inko asked, now in tears. "Why does my baby have to be at risk like this? Why do you have to be the new Symbol of Peace? You said you were being selfish when you accepted All Might's power. So what is it about now?"

Izuku smiled sadly. "To be honest, I just can't leave things the way they are." He admitted. "I guess no matter how much I grow, one thing remains the same: I just can't ignore it when I see something that's wrong, whether it's with one person or the world as a whole."

That struck a chord with Tenya. Izuku's inability to leave things be when something was wrong...he knew that better than anyone. "I know it's dangerous, and I know I could die." Izuku acknowledged. "But...knowing what I know now, and seeing what's happened to the world before and even after All Might retired...I can't ignore it now. I have to do something, no matter the cost."

"But what about me, Izuku? What about your mother?" Inko asked in tears. "Don't you realize that you going out to risk your life like this is breaking my heart?"

Izuku felt the tears well up once more. "Of course I do," he promised, "and I'm sorry. Even now, I'm selfish, because I can't just go and do something that won't make you worry so much."

Izuku then managed a big smile through the tears. "But Mom, I promise you this, no matter how hard things get, I will not...no, I _refuse_ to die."

"How can you be so sure?" Inko sobbed. "How can you promise something like that?"

Izuku pointed right at his mother. "Because I have a mom who loves me." He replied. "As long as I know you're waiting at home for me. Or, even after I've gone pro and have left home, as long as I know you're watching me in action, cheering me on, Mom, I promise you I'm always going to come back alive. You just never stop cheering for me, never stop waiting at home to give me a big hug, and never stop loving me as your son, and I will always return alive, no matter the odds."

That made the dam break. Tears shot out of Inko Midoriya like geysers. Tenya smiled warmly at how sincere Izuku was. Inko leapt at Izuku, taking him into a big embrace. "My baby!" She wailed.

"Mom…" Izuku blushed in embarrassment, remembering that Tenya was right there.

Inko managed to calm herself down. She gave Izuku a stern gaze through her tears. "You have to be even more careful than before, do you promise me?" She asked. "Remember your promise to me when All Might came to our house and triple it."

Izuku nodded. Inko then gave him a smile. "And...never forget that every day, _you're my hero_."

Izuku nodded again. "Thanks Mom."

"Mrs. Midoriya," Inko and Izuku turned to Tenya, who had been quiet and respectful throughout, "if I may, Ma'am, I'll do my best to look after your son. And if necessary, I'll protect him to make sure he comes home alive."

"Tenya, no!" Izuku exclaimed. "I can't ask you to…"

Tenya shook his head, silencing Izuku. "You're not asking me, I'm deciding myself." Tenya told him. "You are worth fighting for and protecting, Izuku. Not just because you are important to this world."

"But more importantly, because I consider you my dearest friend." Tenya revealed. "My mistakes from the past put you through a lot, but you stuck with me through it all. You didn't abandon me, and I will always be grateful for that."

Izuku's eyes widened at Tenya's sincerity. Tenya smiled reassuringly. "So now, it's my turn. If anything comes up, you tell me." Tenya told him before promising. "I'll help you with whatever you need, Izuku."

Tenya gave Izuku a thumbs-up. "But I'm not going to let you become the Number One Hero before me." He said. "The future Symbol of Peace does not get a free pass. And now that I know the expectations that have been hoisted upon you, I'm going to work twice as hard and get even stronger. You're still one of the people I want to surpass, Izuku, especially now."

Izuku chuckled. "I wouldn't have it any other way, Tenya." He replied.

At that moment, the trio's attention was drawn to a grandiose voice. "I AM HERE!" It shouted with such familiarity. "With a new friend!"

Izuku's eyes widened. "All Might's back!" He exclaimed.

"With a new friend, apparently." Tenya muttered.

Izuku excitedly rose from his seat before remembering his mom. "Hey," he said to her, "anything you'd like to...you know, say to All Might?"

Inko shook her head. "Not yet, just...let me collect my thoughts, alright?"

Izuku nodded in understanding. "Tenya, let's give my mom some space."

Tenya nodded and the two left the private room, leaving Inko to her thoughts. When they entered the main area of the safehouse, they immediately saw All Might in his heroic form, standing among an adoring group of guards who were thrilled to see him like this. Next to All Might was a smaller, but still muscular and wellbuilt, old man. That must be All Might's new friend.

"All Might!" Izuku yelled for his mentor.

All Might smiled widely. "Young Izuku!" He exclaimed, running over to his student.

All Might scooped Izuku up and took him into a big embrace. "I'm glad that you're safe, my boy." All Might told him.

"I'm glad to see you like that again." Izuku admitted. "How did you get One For All back?"

All Might put Izuku down. "I will leave that explanation to my new friend." He replied, gesturing to the old man.

The old man gave Izuku and Tenya a polite smile before introducing himself. "My name is Sojiro, retired Grandmaster for the Kingdom of Menou's Royal Army. It is very nice to meet the both of you."

 _That is not a real place, but okay._ Izuku and Tenya thought in unison.

"I am Tenya Iida, of the Iida family." Tenya introduced himself. "It's...nice to meet you, Grandmaster."

"Right, umm, I'm Izuku Midoriya, Grandmaster Sojiro." Izuku introduced himself as well. "As I'm sure you know by now...I'm All Might's successor."

Sojiro was immediately upon Izuku, curiously examining him. "Fascinating," Sojiro muttered, "I really can sense All Might's power inside your body...along with seven other presences. Truly fascinating. Seeing Ozpin and Oscar share a body was one thing, but this is something else."

"Umm...you can actually sense One For All?" Izuku was surprised to hear that.

"Oh?" Sojiro raised an eyebrow before realizing what he meant. "I see, so your world lacks sensory abilities, interesting."

"Our world, what are you talking about?" Tenya frowned.

"Ah, I suppose you're still confused about what's happening around you, so I suppose I should just come out and say it." Sojiro nodded. "Did you boys happen to fight any men in black?"

"Yeah, a guy who could make his skeleton super hard." Izuku nodded. "That guy was tough. It took Tenya and me working together to beat him."

Sojiro nodded again. "That man was from my world, they all are. An old apocalypse-worshiping cult that I thought my people had dealt with once upon a time that have unfortunately returned to complete their mission."

"Your world?" Tenya was still in disbelief.

"Yes, I know this is hard to take in, but the truth is, your world is one of many. I am what is called a Watcher. Our job is to observe worlds in order to maintain balance, to make sure that no one unjustly exercises their power over those who lack the capabilities to effectively fight back."

"Oh, so you're like the Avengers!" Izuku excitedly exclaimed.

"Eh?" Sojiro raised a confused eyebrow.

"Superheroes from American comic books I loved reading! When other worlds need you, you fight the battles that they can't!" Izuku explained.

Sojiro looked at All Might who just shrugged. "Roll with it." He said.

Sojiro looked at Izuku's starstruck expression and sighed, unable to resist his childlike innocence and enthusiasm. "Yes, Izuku, we are like the Avengers."

"Oh man!" Izuku squealed. "And to think there are other worlds. That's also just like Marvel comics, where there are multiverses! To think life could imitate art like this! It completely revolutionizes science as we know it..."

Everyone present watched as Izuku went off on another one of his muttering rants. Tenya sighed before giving Izuku a fond smile. "It's like an art form at this point." He mused.

"You're...overthinking it, Izuku." Sojiro managed to cut Izuku's rant off. "The important thing is that you simply adjust your reality and accept that this is the truth. There are other worlds out there, and unfortunately people with malicious intent seem to be teaming up with this Cult to destroy worlds like yours."

"That's awful!" Tenya exclaimed. "Why would they do something like that?"

"Because they are insane," Sojiro bluntly responded, "and I think the people they roped into helping them are insane too, also greedy."

Izuku immediately grew serious. "What can I do to help?" He asked.

"Izuku, don't volunteer yourself just like that." Tenya admonished his friend.

"Tenya, they're planning on killing _everyone_ , I have to do something!" Izuku retorted.

Sojiro raised an eyebrow at Izuku's heroism. He sighed. "Izuku," he said, "I know you're Toshinori's successor, and I know you're supposed to one day take over as the Symbol of Peace."

"However, you are still just a child. I can't, in good conscience, allow you to get involved in this. This isn't just hero work, this is war."

"Grandmaster, I have no choice." Izuku shook his head. "They're already after me. I'm already involved."

Sojiro heaved another sigh. "Izuku, you're a good kid, I can tell by looking at you. And I'm sure you're going to be a great hero too. But...it's hard for a man to be both a great hero and a great warrior. Only one man has ever achieved that, in my opinion, and he's long gone."

"I'm...not sure what you mean."

"Izuku, this is war," Sojiro reminded him, "you are not just fighting to put criminals in jail. You are fighting to kill. Are you prepared to take a life if necessary?"

Izuku paled. Was he prepared for something like that? Of course not! He grew up on the idea of a hero having a no-kill policy. If he killed a villain he would be no better! Sojiro nodded. "That's what I thought. There's no shame in that, Izuku. Not wanting to take a life does not make you less of a person. It just means that you are not suited for the horrors of war."

So then that was it, Izuku was going to be barred from the battlefield, protected like fine china. Well, at least his mother would be happy with such an arrangement. But still…

"The world still needs heroes, Sir, even in times of war!" Izuku declared. "No, especially in times of war!"

Sojiro was taken aback by Izuku's sudden change in personality. All Might could not help but smile proudly at his successor. "Yeah, you're right, I'm not ready to take a life. I don't think I ever will be." Izuku admitted. "Even so, I am still a hero! Not just any hero, I'm going to be the greatest hero, like my master before me!"

Izuku then exclaimed with as much resolve as he could muster. "Please, Grandmaster, let me join you on the battlefield! Let me help you take the fight to these villains! Even if I don't want to take anyone's life, I still want to do all I can to help! Because...involving yourself in dangerous situations for the sake of others...that's what heroes do, Sir!"

Sojiro's eyes widened at Izuku's declaration. His mind flashed back to thousands of years ago, during Kaishi's conquest.

" _Please, sir, leave! This doesn't involve you! The temple has always paid these men for protection!"_ Tomoe had once said during her days as a shrine maiden.

" _I'm terribly sorry,"_ Kaishi had responded with a smile, _"but...involving myself in situations like these for the sake of others...because I know that it's the right thing to do...that's just the kind of man I am."_

At that moment, Sojiro began to laugh softly. That soft laugh then turned into a full belly laugh. Izuku blushed in embarrassment. "Wh-what's so funny?" He asked.

"I'm sorry, my boy," Sojiro said, wiping a tear from his eye, "in that moment...I just saw an old friend of mine in you, that's all."

Sojiro then turned serious. "I'm still personally against this you know." He told the young hero. "Children should not be on the battlefield. They have their whole lives ahead of them, after all."

"I don't want to die, Grandmaster." Izuku told him. "I want to live. I promised I would live. But I'm also going to do my part to ensure others can live too."

Sojiro could not help but smile at Izuku's resolve. "Well, I certainly can't say no to someone with resolve like yours." He mused. "Seriously, you remind me far too much of that optimistic fool."

"If that's the case, Izuku, then I'm going to have to ask you to accompany me for awhile." Sojiro told him. "There are some people I need to introduce you to. New, like minded friends I'm sure you'll get along with swimmingly."

"I can't wait, Grandmaster." Izuku nodded.

"Izuku, your mother," Tenya spoke up, "you know you're going to have to let her know you're going with a strange old man...maybe word it a bit better than that, too."

Izuku's eyes widened. "Oh, right," he said, before turning to All Might, "er...All Might, my mom knows about One For All."

All Might fell silent at this. "She...wants to speak with you." Izuku continued.

All Might remained silent. "You're...not mad I told her, are you?" Izuku asked curiously.

All Might smiled and ruffled Izuku's hair. "Of course not," he said, "I know you wouldn't tell her such things on a whim. I know you thought this through, just as you did with Young Iida."

All Might sighed. "Unfortunately, now that we know you're going to be a target, since they know who you are, they're probably going to come after your classmates and family members to get to you, regardless of whether they know the truth or not. It...might be best you come clean, just as you have with your mother, Young Iida, and Young Bakugou."

All Might then put on a brave smile. "Now then, I do believe it is time to face the hardest part of being a teacher...facing angry parents." Izuku, Tenya, Sojiro and Gran Torino, who was listening in on all of this, all sweat-dropped at All Might's behavior.

"And you're such a crappy teacher too," Gran Torino noted, "you're screwed, Toshinori."

"...Not the time, Sensei."

Back at the field hospital Noriko had ended up working at, the Traveler found herself working on the Flame Hero: Endeavor, whom All Might had dropped off before running off with the Grandmaster...who had come by to check on her earlier.

Noriko had a lot of people coming and going lately, and it was starting to wear on her just a bit…

"So it's all true?" Endeavor gazed at Noriko as she worked her healing arts on him. "You and that old man All Might left with...you're from a different world?"

Noriko chuckled. "Seems totally unbelievable, doesn't it?" She noted. "Were it not ingrained in my people's culture, I myself would have a hard time believing it."

"But yeah, it is all true." Noriko somberly told Endeavor. "The people you fought today...they're practically aliens as far as you're concerned. But to us, they're old enemies my kingdom had thought they had gotten rid of thousands of years ago."

Endeavor frowned at Noriko's description. "Woman, you do realize that if I wasn't being healed up by something that seemed like magic, I still wouldn't believe you, you know that, right?"

"I wouldn't expect you to. Seeing is believing, after all." Noriko acknowledged.

"Well, also, the world's already had plenty of bad experiences with people who think they come from another world." Endeavor admitted.

"Oh?" Noriko raised an inquisitive eyebrow at this.

Endeavor folded his arms. "Ever heard of The Fallen?" He asked.

"Can't say I have." Noriko shrugged.

"Okay, now I definitely know you're from a different world." Endeavor deadpanned. "The Fallen are a bunch of Pro Heroes from around the world that went rogue for various reasons. Their leader is a guy who's convinced he's from a distant planet, sent to save humanity from anything and everything...including themselves."

"Clearly mentally ill and delusional." Noriko brushed the matter off. "What, did nobody bring the fake alien down to Earth?"

Endeavor sighed. "Unfortunately, if there's one thing the world still fails at is treating mental illnesses." He noted. "But the point is, this world doesn't exactly have the most positive opinion of people who come from other worlds."

"Sounds ironic, considering how alien the people of this world seem sometimes." Noriko pointed out. "It's not that the leader of The Fallen thinks he's an alien that has people concerned, it's that he hurt a lot of good people."

Endeavor nodded. "All the same, maybe work on your messaging if you guys are looking for allies in fighting those bastards."

Noriko then found herself contemplating. "This group known as The Fallen, are they still active?"

Endeavor sighed. "Not for awhile. Their leader, who had been the top-ranked hero in America at the time, was beaten in battle. Do you know why the top-ranked hero is a guy like Captain Celebrity? It's because most of the heroes who fought against The Fallen's leader lost their lives against him, but they managed to beat him in the process."

"Well, I can't say I fully understand Captain Celebrity, personality-wise, but the fact that so many heroes lost their lives against this man is disturbing." Noriko noted. "What happened afterwards?"

"Well, the leader was arrested and placed in solitary confinement in the arctic." Endeavor explained. "Honestly, until that guy All Might went up against reared his ugly head, I think people thought of him as the top villain. Simply because he was pure evil."

Endeavor sighed. "The thing is, even villains have people they admire. Oji Harima, the Peerless Thief, the man who could pull off any heist. Destro, the man who tried to create a society where Quirks could be used to the fullest. I personally despise those men for their status as villains, but at the same time, I can understand why other up-and-coming villains admired them. Hell, one villain who loved posting his crimes on the internet often discussed them being among the upper echelons of great villains."

"I take it the leader of The Fallen is quite different." Noriko noted.

Endeavor nodded. "That man was pure evil. So evil that even other villains despised him. The only reason he commanded so much loyalty was because of his power and that the other heroes that had gone rogue knew his presence would be a deterrent for law enforcement.."

"And when they lost that deterrent they simply fled?" Noriko frowned at the thought of someone abandoning their own comrade.

"Yeah, if I had to guess, they probably fled to Africa. After Quirks came to be, that continent fell into even more chaos." Endeavor noted before adding bitterly. "No matter how strong humans get...some things never change...some people are just awful."

Noriko gazed at Endeavor noting that he seemed to be talking about himself when he said that. "You're right about that," she acknowledged.

"But, I think you forgot one thing, Mr. Endeavor." Noriko told him with a reassuring smile. "There's more to people than just their negative qualities. It's just up to them to bring them out to see."

"You think it's that simple?"

"Of course not," Noriko shook her head, "but that doesn't mean you don't stop doing it. You keep pushing, until you show people that you're committed to showing them your best, positive side."

"Just keep pushing, huh?" Endeavor frowned thoughtfully before smirking. "Sheesh, that sounds exactly like something All Might would say. You know that, right?"

Noriko laughed. "Can't say I do, Mr. Endeavor." She noted jokingly. "I'm from a different world, remember?"

As Noriko laughed at her own joke, Endeavor noticed a man with blue eyes and blonde hair casually walking up to Noriko from behind. His eyes widened when he saw a bright flash. "Hey!" He yelled.

It was too late, a beam of light protruded from the Cultist's finger, aimed straight at Noriko's back. The bastard must have concealed his Reiki to a point where Noriko, who was completely focused on providing treatment to the injured, could have never noticed such a thing.

However, someone else had snuck in. Someone much friendlier.

"Directional Arrow!"

The Cultist gasped as a black line with an arrow at the end appeared out of nowhere, collided with his beam of light, and forced it to go left and away from Noriko. Then, it redirected itself upwards, safely away from everyone else at the field hospital.

Noriko and the Cultist both gasped and turned to the source of the arrow. A beautiful woman with long, back-length blonde hair shaped into a line of triangles at the end, stood in place. Noriko gasped, recognizing the woman. However, the woman's attention was solely on the Cultist. And she was not going to show him any mercy for what he had tried to do.

"Piercing Arrows!" Several portals opened up and more arrow vectors appeared.

The Cultist had no time to react before he was pierced in multiple places, killing him instantly. Noriko gasped, recognizing that technique. Now she was a hundred percent certain who had saved her. "Mitsuko-Sensei?!" She said in disbelief.

The woman known as Mitsuko gave Noriko a smile. "It's been a long time, hasn't it, Noriko?" She asked. "I never imagined I would meet you here, of all places."

"No kidding…" Noriko muttered.

"I'm glad I did though." Mitsuko admitted. "Had I not met you here, I would not have been able to save you from that assassin. A light in an otherwise dark day, if you ask me."

Noriko immediately started laughing, relieved by the presence of one of her former instructors from Menou's military academy. "You haven't changed a bit, Sensei." She noted. "Gods, it seems like it was yesterday when you were teaching us about Reiki Control."

"Mmm, I personally think it seems so long ago." Mitsuko replied.

"Sensei, what exactly _are_ you doing here?" Noriko asked. "No one has seen you since you resigned from your teaching position and became a Traveler."

Mitsuko gazed at the body of the assassin that had tried to strike down Noriko. "Well, to be blunt, I came across a world the Cult had destroyed. I immediately realized that they had returned, and knew I had to track them down. Next thing I knew, I was here."

"Well I'm glad you are," Noriko told her, "seriously, Sensei, I'm feeling a lot better now that you're here as some added muscle."

"You're giving me way too much credit, Noriko." Mitsuko humbly brushed the praise off.

Noriko sighed. "Honestly, I'm not giving you enough credit." She admitted. "Grandmaster Sojiro is still plenty strong, but his illness has severely weakened him. That just leaves one of my fellow Travelers, Shogo, as our only consistently reliable fighter."

Mitsuko hummed thoughtfully at this. "So, Grandmaster Sojiro is here as well." She mused. "And Shogo? My, my, I haven't seen him since his days at the academy. Does he still fancy himself a hero of legend?"

"...Yeah." Noriko heaved a tired sigh. "Sensei, would you mind fighting with us? We really could use your help with this."

"Noriko, you don't even have to ask." Mitsuko smiled kindly. "I want these people stopped just as much as you do."

Noriko heaved a sigh. "Damn, with Shuya holding down the fort, I've got no way to get in contact with the Grandmaster. I guess we're waiting here until he returns."

"That's fine. We have a bit to catch up on." Mitsuko noted.

Endeavor cleared his throat, getting the attention of both women. "Ah, I'm sorry, this chatting must be boring you to tears." Mitsuko noted.

"Er...no, it's fine." Endeavor shook his head. "Maybe instead of catching up, you can do me a favor and tell me everything you know about the people who attacked us. I feel like you know more about my world than I do yours."

"Fair enough." Noriko chuckled, now less stressed due to her former instructor in Reiki Control here. Mitsuko had been a very popular, likable teacher at the academy due to her motherly persona. Having her here was a blessing. "Now, where do we begin? Hope you like long stories, Mr. Endeavor."

Unbeknownst to Endeavor, and everyone else, the arctic was going through a similar crisis. Guards were being blasted away by an invading force. A combination of Cultists and an army that had long been thought dead and buried.

An officer in charge of the guards, gazed at the attackers' leader in disbelief. "I...I don't understand…" he muttered weakly. "...Why...you of all people…"

Rikiya Yotsubashi, President of the beloved company, Deternat, secretly a villain, sighed and crushed the skull of the officer. "Because through creation, we must destroy." He said somberly. "Through the destruction of the old world...a new world will return. It is up to us...to make sure that the new world allows the absolute freedom of superpowers."

Such words were once espoused by the villain Destro. It made sense, considering that the goofy, mild-mannered President Yotsubashi...was actually the son of Destro. The villain, Re-Destro, and the current leader of the Meta Liberation Army.

A pale, blue-skinned woman, excitedly ran around, taking in the sights. "This is amazing!" Chitose Kizuki, a famous journalist, and a member of the Meta Liberation Army by the codename, Curious, exclaimed.

"To think, we would end up in the most terrifying of prisons!" Curious continued. "Thousands of guards and one prisoner! The man who once held the United States of America in an age of terror as their number one hero! The man who single handedly destroyed the USA's strength in heroes as he fell in battle!"

"Grand Commander!" Curious ran up to Re-Destro before he even saw her move. "I really must thank you for bringing me on this mission! Even I have been unable to experience the privilege of covering this prison! No journalist has!"

"That's because the media is afraid of the truth getting out." Re-Destro explained. "The truth that the tragic story of The Fallen's leader could have been avoided if the world had not suppressed Quirks, treating them like they are still different from others. Even though Quirk users are no longer repressed, they are still regulated by the governments of this world. We are still nothing more than tools for society. And this one finally snapped from that cruel reality."

A large man dressed in a large eskimo suit, appeared before Curious and Re-Destro. "Grand Commander, Lady Curious, we've found the cell."

"Very good, Geten, take us there." Re-Destro nodded.

Geten nodded back and led Re-Destro and Curious to a single, massive door. "All these guards, and one prisoner." Curious mused. "Of course, that prisoner is the man who was both America's greatest hero and greatest villain. And I'm finally going to meet him!"

The doors were slowly opened by two members of the Meta Liberation Army. Curious almost squealed in delight when she saw a single man, bound to a chair, his head lowered. Re-Destro calmly entered the room. "Do you know why we're here?" He inquired.

"I think I can guess." The man responded in a disturbingly calm tone. "The stars...the stars still have use of me. My purpose has not been completed yet. Don't you see? Your arrival was fated by the stars above us."

Re-Destro was taken aback. Every instinct in his body screamed to flee from this man. There was just something about him that seemed...wrong.

Slowly, he raised his head, revealing to Re-Destro the red eyes of Arthur Adams, also known as Atomic Arthur: America's greatest hero and villain. Re-Destro's eyes widened. At that moment, he actually found himself doubting his own opinion of Atomic Arthur as he stared into those red eyes.

In those eyes, he did not see a man oppressed by society. He saw pure evil.

"Now then," Atomic Arthur continued in that same, disturbingly calm tone of his, "my suit is in this prison. Could you please bring it to me?"

Elsewhere, in an unknown location, Cardinal Shido was strolling through the obsidian hallways of the Cult of the End's headquarters, flanked by his Bishop Triad: Ibuki, Ryuketsu, and Chiharu.

"Cardinal Shido," Ryuketsu spoke up after a moment of silence, "if I may be so bold as to ask, Sir, what would you qualify today as? Victory or defeat? Success or failure?"

"Today is a good day, Ryuketsu." Shido told him. "Just because we had to retreat, doesn't mean today was a failure."

"Usually it does, Sir." Ibuki pointed out with a mischievous smile.

Shido shook his head. "We failed to plan for the possibility of All Might regaining his power." He pointed out. "No reason to get upset about that, of course. Someone regaining power after losing it is unheard of. Unfortunately, when you fail to plan for a contingency that shouldn't be possible, what most would call 'failure' is the only outcome."

"It has to be those damn Travelers from Menou." Chiharu frowned. "First they interfered in Cardinal Higeki's operations in Remnant and now they get in our way here?"

"They escaped Higeki on a lucky break," Shido responded, "we concluded that their military strength was nowhere near ours. And I personally still believe that myself. We just underestimated the tools at their disposal."

"The important thing to remember," Shido continued, "is that before we were forced to retreat, we caused a lot of death and destruction."

"That, I have no doubt of," Ryuketsu acknowledged, "I can imagine Japan's pro heroes are scrambling to pick up the pieces."

"And with the civilian casualties, there's no doubt that morale is low." Ibuki noted. "You know, you never did strike me as the glass-is-half-full kind of person, Cardinal Shido. You must be in a really good mood today."

Shido chuckled. "Let's just say my encounter with All Might has given me a new sense of purpose. It's a shame that All For One can't find the same joy in fighting him."

"You're in a really good mood, Sir." Ibuki chuckled. "You never show this much joy at the thought of battle."

"Because none of my previous fights _were_ fights." Shido replied. "Anyway, no need for you three to keep following me. You're dismissed for the day. Rest up and recharge. I can imagine we'll be back in the field causing more death soon, so be ready."

"And what will you do, Cardinal Shido?" Chiharu asked curiously.

"Well, I'm sure I'm going to need to be debriefed on today's events." Shido noted. "I'm sure the Archbishop will be very interested in what I've got to say. Things are definitely getting interesting, now that two attacks have been delayed for whatever reason."

"As you wish, Cardinal Shido." Ryuketsu bowed before walking away with Chiharu tailing him close behind with a big smile on her face.

Ibuki bowed as well before leaving Shido's sight. "Just because you see today as a success, doesn't mean everyone will, Cardinal Shido." An elderly voice spoke up.

Shido frowned slightly at that statement. He turned to see an old man, hunched over and supported by a cain, gazing at him with a wrinkly, disapproving look. Shido sighed. "So, you're here to debrief me, Patriarch?" He noted. "I would much prefer to speak with the Archbishop. Hell, I'd prefer speaking with the _Matriarch_."

"The Matriarch has her own duties, and the Archbishop is preaching to the faithful." The Patriarch told Shido. "The duty to tell you that you failed miserably lies with me."

"Let me guess, did Higeki get this little lecture from you too?" Shido spat.

"Higeki is far too busy rectifying his mistake in Remnant. He has at least earned a reprieve." The Patriarch responded. "You, however, seem content in running away from your fight. You are a disgrace to the faith, Cardinal Shido."

"Hey, we caused plenty of death and destruction." Shido glared at the Patriarch.

"And yet, on this day, our god has not returned." The Patriarch noted. "It's not enough, Shido. Therefore, your efforts today were a failure."

Shido scowled. "You know what, I think I'll skip the debriefing today. I don't exactly answer to an old geezer who does not involve himself in the faith's duties. Just because you're one of the Archbishop's right-hand men, doesn't mean I have to respect you."

"My duties are just as important to the faith's success." The Patriarch defended himself.

"I'll believe it when I see it." Shido replied. "And as for you telling me that my efforts were a failure, I think you need to have a bit more patience. Just because you're at that age where you've gotta be in a hurry 'cause you're old and will die soon, doesn't give you the right to rush the rest of us."

"It's been thousands of years since the time our god walked the universe among us." Shido reminded the Patriarch. "I think our divine one can wait a bit longer."

"Do not presume to speak as though your word means more than our god, Cardinal Shido. You commit blasphemy."

"And here you are acting the same, Patriarch, telling me I'm a failure just because you have no patience. Kinda hard to defend myself when you've got this 'rules for thee, but not for me' thing going." Shido smirked, making the Patriarch's face twist into a scowl. "That's what I thought. The divine one _will_ return, Patriarch. If the matter of when actually meant something, an actual time frame would've been written somewhere, or the Archbishop would have said something. You know, the guy who's opinion actually matters."

The Patriarch was silenced by Shido's statement. With that, Shido left the Patriarch to fume over being talked down to. Not like he could do anything. The Cardinals answered directly to the Patriarch, and the Patriarch had no real power to threaten them with. He just had a particularly useful ability to the Archbishop.

Shido soon returned to his private quarters. "Well, that was a first. I actually got pissed at the old man" He mused. "Usually I just remain silent and promise to kill more people next time. It looks like getting to cut loose has stoked more than just my competitive spirit."

Shido then reached into his pocket and pulled out what appeared to be a comic book. He gazed over at his desk, taking note of the stacks of stories that he had pilfered from worlds the Cult had destroyed over the years.

He gazed at the comic book, immediately noting how similar the superhero on the cover looked to All Might. "To think something like this would be considered classical work."

Shido sank into his bed and opened the comic book to page one. "I must admit, the cultures of other worlds are truly fascinating. And the fact that they are all going to end is what makes them truly valuable." He noted.

"Life is fascinating." He concluded.

As villains began to make their move both within and outside of the world, All Might steeled himself for a challenge arguably as great as facing All For One: calming down an angry mother. As great a mother figure as Nana Shimura was, All Might knew one thing was true (besides the fact she was a great hero and an even better person): you do not piss her off. You just do not do that.

And so, All Might entered the room where Inko Midoriya had been sitting in silence, gathering her thoughts on the bombshell that her son had just dropped on her. "I am here...er, nevermind, maybe that's the wrong entrance." All Might nervously muttered. "Er...hello again, Mrs. Midoriya, fancy meeting you here of all places."

In a flash, Inko was out of her seat. In a flash, All Might's head whipped to the side from a mighty slap to the face, courtesy of one pissed off mother.

Let that sink in, Inko Midoriya had just slapped All Might so hard that his head actually whipped to the side...how in the world did she even get to the height required for that?

 _Never underestimate an angry mother._ All Might reminded himself.

"YOU!" Inko screamed. "Do you realize what you've done?"

All Might remained silent, allowing Inko to say her piece. "My son, All Might!" Inko yelled. "My son is walking into a life where he has to fight battles like the one in Kamino! A life that you got him into! And apparently, it's going to be even worse now, because apparently there are villains out there who, for whatever reason, just want to kill everyone. And my son is a target because they know about this Quirk that you two apparently share, which makes him a threat to their plans! My little boy has just become number one on the kill-list of a bunch of villains, and it's all your fault!"

With that, Inko was left panting, exhausted from the rant she had just gone on. All Might sighed sadly, knowing that she was absolutely right. "I won't say I'm sorry...I know that means nothing to you now. But I swear to you, Mrs. Midoriya, I truly believed I had left the world a safer place for Young Izuku to take my place as the Symbol of Peace. I never would have imagined that All For One was still active and dangerous. And I certainly didn't know there were villains with just as sinister intentions as his."

All Might offered his other cheek. "If that answer is not satisfactory...just continue slapping me until you've got it out of your system. I won't get angry and I won't respond. I can take it."

Inko gazed at All Might, surprised that he was not arguing with her on this. She took a deep breath, feeling her body relax. "No...I won't hit you again. No matter how angry I am, I don't think I could ever bring myself to senselessly beat Izuku's idol."

Inko returned to her seat. "Please, sit down," she said, "we're both mature adults, All Might. So...let's act like them."

All Might nodded in understanding. "Of course, Mrs. Midoriya." And with that, All Might returned to his normal, gaunt form, almost making Inko leap from her seat in surprise. He did not plan to speak with her as All Might, he planned to speak with her as Toshinori Yagi.

Toshinori heaved a sigh as he took a seat. "So, where do we begin?" He asked.

Inko was still frowning at him. "For starters, I just want to make sure that this is all true. You really transferred your Quirk to my son? And that was why you had to retire as a hero?"

"That's only half true." Toshinori shook his head. "I did indeed transfer my Quirk to Young Izuku. However, I was already on my way to retirement...not of my own volition mind you."

"What?" Inko was surprised to hear this.

"You mentioned the villain I had fought in Kamino." Toshinori reminded her. "The truth is, I had fought him before. I thought I had ended him...permanently. But in the process, I received injuries so grievous that my body simply could not handle the stress of being a hero anymore. I was pretty much coasting on embers by the time I fought that man a second time."

"Oh God…" Inko muttered in disbelief.

"But other than that, it's all true. I wasn't born with this power, I inherited it from my master, just as she inherited it from hers. I was actually Quirkless, much like Young Izuku." Toshinori explained. "The power of One For All..and it's now his to grow and use for the sake of the world."

"...Why did you give it to my son?" Inko asked softly.

"One For All cannot be given to just anyone...well, it can, but just because it can doesn't mean it should." Toshinori explained. "Imagine if my strength ended up in the hands of a villain, or even a hero who was more corruptible than others."

Inko paled. She did not like the thought of that at all. "The succession process...must be heavily scrutinized." Toshinori revealed. "You need to be a hundred and ten percent certain that the person you are passing One For All onto is the right person for the job."

"And what makes someone the right person for the job?" Inko asked curiously.

Toshinori smiled. "The qualities I found in your son the day we met." He revealed. "A kind heart, a strong sense of right and wrong, a desire to save those who can't save themselves, but...and I've believed this since my master, an understanding of what it's like to be powerless."

"What do you mean?" Inko asked in confusion.

"Your son was Quirkless, just like I was. There is no worse feeling then wanting to help others but lacking the power to do so."

" _I'm sorry, Izuku, I wish things were different."_ God, Toshinori's words definitely struck a chord with Inko.

"But that knowledge of what it's like...it forces them to develop the other traits of what it means to be a hero. Empathy, a strong moral compass, the very heart of a hero." Toshinori explained. "I don't doubt that your son went through a lot, Mrs. Midoriya. But there is no doubt in my mind that his pain made him the man he is today."

"He is the very embodiment of heroic qualities that all pros should strive for, and the reason for that is because he was not born strong like other heroes." Toshinori concluded. "Mrs. Midoriya, your son had the heart of a hero long before I met him. He just needed someone who believed in him to bring it out. I chose him as my successor because he had that heart. Out of all the heroes I've met, he is the only one I deemed worthy of One For All's power and its responsibility. And there is nothing that will ever change my mind on that."

Throughout all of Toshinori's explanations, Inko simply sat there and remained silent, politely listening to it all. But now that he was done, there was something else on her mind. "How did you and Izuku even meet?"

Toshinori smiled at the memory. "Do you remember the incident with the villain that attacked Young Bakugou before he went to UA?"

Inko's eyes widened. "How could I forget? I called Mitsuki when I heard the news, and she said that Katsuki was fine. Said he was more angry than shaken up. Wait, what does that have to do with Izuku?"

Toshinori shook his head. "Everything," he said, "the media, in their infinite wisdom, left his involvement in that story out completely."

"What do you mean?"

"First, I had met Young Izuku earlier that day, he confided in me in his dream...and I, in a moment of weakness and shame in my own powerlessness, told him it was impossible. Truth be told, I still regret that to this day. The boy told me his dream, and how he wanted to be like me, regardless of whether he had power or not...and I threw it back in his face because I was ashamed of myself."

"But then, in a twist of fate, we met again when that villain was attacking Young Bakugou. Young Izuku, this scared, Quirkless boy, bravely charged in to save a boy who had been his bully, while heroes with Quirks simply stood by, unable to do anything."

Inko's mouth dropped open. "WHAT?!" She thundered. "How could my boy be that reckless?!"

"Please don't be angry at him, Mrs. Midoriya." Toshinori pleaded. "Young Izuku's body simply moved before he could think. Plenty of heroes experience that feeling when they start out."

Inko calmed down and allowed Toshinori to continue. "Young Izuku was the real hero that day." Toshinori admitted. "His actions reminded me that pros need to go beyond their limits and risk their lives for the sake of others. But, the media could not allow a narrative that a powerless boy did more in the face of danger than people with power did, so they completely buried his involvement and instead treated him like a reckless fool."

Toshinori chuckled bitterly. "They missed the point completely. Even if it was reckless, he acted when others wouldn't. A story like that should've served as a point of inspiration for heroes whether they were in-training or pros."

"Anyway, when I saw Young Izuku act, it inspired me to go beyond my own limits and save both him and Young Bakugou." Toshinori revealed. "You see, Mrs. Midoriya, that was the moment I realized he would be my successor."

"That moment, where I saw this Quirkless boy bravely charge into danger to save the life of someone else. He may not have had the strength of a hero, but he had the heart of a hero...a heart that even surpassed my own in that very moment."

"So you see, Mrs. Midoriya, I did not give him One For All on a whim or because I was desperate. No, I gave him One For All because I believe in Young Izuku, and I believe that he will surpass me in every way, and become a great Symbol of Peace."

And with that, Toshinori had said his peace. Inko just sat there in disbelief, taking it all in. Toshinori heaved a sigh. "I can understand if you are still angry at me." Toshinori told her. "However, I can assure you, I still have every intention of making Young Izuku a hero greater than even me, for his sake. Especially now that he has made it clear he's committed to this path."

"I know." Inko said softly.

Inko looked at Toshinori. "The truth is, I'm still angry...whether it's at you or at fate for putting my son on such a dangerous path, I honestly don't know."

"And yet," Inko continued, "when I look at you, Mr. All Might...I just can't seem to hate you for involving yourself in my son's life the way you have."

Inko felt tears welling up in her eyes. "I don't know how much Izuku told you about his life before he met you...and received your Quirk...but the truth is, it was so hard for him."

"He wanted to be just like you, so badly." Inko explained. "He was such a happy boy because he had such an admirable idol to look up to."

"But that all changed when the doctors told him he was Quirkless. Something inside of him just...broke." Inko choked upon saying that. "He became more and more withdrawn. He smiled less. He began constantly taking notes about his heroes, desperately trying to find some sort of loophole that could make him a hero. And when kids started bullying him for not having a Quirk, it just made it worse."

Inko laughed bitterly. "It made me hate the world around us so much." She admitted. "Just because my son didn't have some stupid superpower, it made bullying him okay? It made him a second-class citizen in everyone else's eyes? The teachers didn't even do anything to help him."

Toshinori remained silent. This time, he would let Inko say her peace. "I was so scared...so helpless." Inko wept. "I...I was so worried that I was going to one day come home and find him hanging from the ceiling, overdosing on pills, or I would even get a call from the school that says he threw himself off the roof of the building. And I knew there was nothing I could do about it, because I knew the only way I could make him better, was if I could give him a Quirk."

"Mr. All Might...you will never know what it's like to feel more powerless than someone who doesn't have a Quirk." Inko sadly told him. "Because that was _my_ life day in and day out, watching my boy spiral deeper into depression. And what was even worse was knowing that he still had it worse than I did."

Toshinori had to restrain himself from weeping at this point. He could not break down in front of Inko. He had to remain strong and not take this moment from her. "But you know...the day after that incident with the villain that attacked Katsuki, something changed in Izuku." Inko admitted, now smiling through the tears.

"He started working out, started on a new diet, and outright vowed to me he would not only be ready for UA's entrance exams, he would pass them as well." Inko explained. "And...as the months went by and the exams grew closer, I also noticed that...he was smiling more too."

"You have no idea how happy it made me," Inko continued, "to see my baby smiling again. And not the fake smile that he used to give me when things were tough...but the real smile he used to have when he watched videos of you saving people."

"And then he got into UA. Then he started making friends like that nice Tenya boy. Every day, he would come home, happy about how his day at school went. It felt like I was living in a dream. The Izuku I knew had come back. I didn't even know who I had to thank for it, because it certainly wasn't me."

Inko's smile widened as the tears ran down her face at a quick rate. "Little did I know, it was his hero, all along. You brought the old Izuku back. You saved him in the best way possible."

Toshinori's eyes widened. He knew he had quite the impact on Izuku...but he never imagined it was that big. "So you see, even if I am still a bit angry that my son's life is dangerous now because of you...the truth is, I could never hate you, no matter how hard I tried." Inko revealed.

"You are my son's hero. You gave him his smile back; his _life_ back. Mr. All Might, thank you so much for what you've done for my son."

Toshinori could not take it anymore. The Symbol of Peace began to weep, sincerely touched by hearing all of that from Inko Midoriya. " _Thank you_ , Mrs. Midoriya, for raising such a wonderful boy...and allowing me to be part of his life." Toshinori managed.

Inko nodded. "Mr. All Might," she said, "Izuku promised me to always come home because I would be waiting for him. So I've given him my blessing to continue this path...even if it does still make me nervous."

"Even so...please look after my boy, and make him the greatest hero, greater even than you." Inko requested.

Toshinori responded without hesitation. "I promise."

 **A.N: Ah, yes, I really put a lot of heart into this chapter. So, one final chapter to wrap up the MHA Prologue.**


	12. Chapter 12: Each Other's Heroes

**Chapter 12: Each Other's Heroes**

With the Cult of the End having retreated, the chaos in the city was finally beginning to die down. This allowed Izuku Midoriya to finally breathe a sigh of relief inside of the safehouse. Even though the danger was gone, All Might and Tsukauchi insisted he remain in the safehouse with his mother and his guards. Especially with the plan Grandmaster Sojiro had for Izuku.

" _Izuku, since your resolve has been set, I would like to take this opportunity to extend to you an offer."_ Sojiro had said to him.

" _An offer?"_ Izuku had looked at Sojiro in confusion. Then at All Might, who had given him a reassuring smile.

" _If you really are important to this world, then it's clear that you need to be properly groomed for the role."_ Sojiro had told him. _"Especially in this life or death struggle that your world is about to enter."_

Izuku was unable to argue with that, so he had allowed Sojiro to continue. _"I want you to come with me, to our headquarters between worlds."_ Sojiro had offered. _"I know All Might is your mentor, but I'm sure your government will want him handling this crisis and all the PR."_

" _Unfortunately, that's quite true."_ All Might had grimly admitted. _"Once word gets out about my return-and make no mistake, Young Izuku, it will-people will want me on TV constantly, reassuring the world that in spite of the tragedy today, the government is dedicated to their safety and that we will survive this."_

" _So then...I'll be training with the Grandmaster then?"_ Izuku had given Sojiro a quick look, noting his muscular frame but also his age.

Sojiro had noticed and laughed. _"Don't let my appearance fool you, Izuku. I may be old, but this body also holds the mind of a man who has trained hundreds of thousands of students over the years."_

Sojiro had then given him a reassuring look. _"I know you probably want to stay with All Might and train with him. He's your mentor after all. However, think of this as something temporary. A work-study program, perhaps. And then, when you return, you can show All Might just how much you've improved."_

" _And you're sure this is the right thing to do?"_ Izuku had asked in worry. _"I...I should be on the frontlines."_

" _Young Izuku, you leave the frontlines to me."_ All Might had reassured him. _"You need to focus your efforts on becoming stronger and mastering One For All. That way, once you do fight our new enemies again, you are ready."_

Izuku had still been uncertain, but then his mother, of all people, had spoken up. _"I think that's a brilliant idea."_

" _Mom?"_ Izuku had been shocked.

" _My baby has resolved himself to become the new Symbol of Peace."_ Inko had noted with a proud smile on her face. _"And he needs to surpass All Might in order to do that. So, if training with this old man that All Might trusts is the key to doing it, then I'll support it."_

Izuku had smiled upon hearing this, realizing he had his mother's blessing to continue this life. _"Mom…"_

Sojiro had bowed to Inko upon seeing her approval. _"Thank you, Mrs. Midoriya, your approval is very much appreciated."_

At that moment, Tenya had spoken up. _"Izuku,"_ he had said, _"before you leave, I think you need to tell the rest of our class the truth."_

Everyone had gazed at Tenya in surprise. _"Tenya, are you sure?"_ Izuku had asked.

Tenya had nodded. _"Izuku,"_ he began, _"I know you've kept this secret for months to protect us, and I truly do appreciate that. However, I think we need to consider something very important: the enemy already knows who you are and what your purpose is."_

All Might had nodded, having been considering this to be the best course of action himself. _"If they know who you are and plan to come after you, they'll probably come after people you know to get to you."_ Tenya had continued. _"They're all in danger now. So it's probably best to simply come clean and admit to the burden you carry."_

All Might had nodded once more. _"Agreed,"_ he had said, _"Young Izuku, I had floated the idea of you coming clean to the rest of your class for the very reason Young Iida had just said. And now, I don't think this can be merely a suggestion. I think you absolutely need to tell your classmates the truth. But_ _ **only**_ _your classmates."_

Izuku had sighed. _"Yeah,"_ he was in full agreement, _"Kacchan and Tenya already know...if they come after the rest of the class to get to me...I don't think I could forgive myself. If I tell them, they'll at least know to keep their eyes peeled for any attackers."_

Gran Torino had then cut in. _"To think there would actually come a day where we would have to reveal the secret behind One For All to even more people."_ He had sighed at that. _"I guess at this point...with All For One just spreading Deku's name and secret like a damn wildfire, we might as well try to make those close to Deku a bit safer. Anyway, if you don't mind, Mrs. Midoriya, I'll be shadowing you from now on, at least until I'm inevitably called into active duty."_

" _When that happens, I'll make arrangements for Mrs. Midoriya to be placed in a safehouse."_ Tsukauchi had spoken up, giving Izuku a reassuring smile. _"Don't worry, Midoriya, we won't let them get your mom."_

And now, Izuku was sitting in his bed inside the safehouse, running through the scenarios for tomorrow in his head. He knew the two biggest challenges ahead of time. One was convincing the rest of his class that this was a hundred percent true. That would not be too hard. He had Kacchan and Tenya to back him up.

The second challenge would be trying to explain this to them in a way where he did not end up being shunned. That may very well be what was best though. After all, if they no longer wished to be associated with him for their own safety, that might very well mean that they stay safe from All For One, the League of Villains and the Cult of the End.

Either way, regardless of the challenges, Izuku knew he had to come clean tomorrow. Especially when this would be the last he saw of his classmates for a while, according to Sojiro. He did not want to have any regrets.

 _Everything has changed. Nothing can go back to the way it once was anymore._ Izuku lamented. _And here I thought inheriting All Might's Quirk would be the biggest change in my life. But now the entire universe has expanded._

Izuku then collapsed into his bed, realizing how tired he was. _Oh man._ He found himself drifting off to sleep. _I'm...way more tired...than I thought I was…_

Light snoring was soon heard in Izuku's room. The new Symbol of Peace had drifted off to hopefully pleasant dreams.

Meanwhile, in a darker corner of Japan, another successor with darker intentions was going through matters of his own. First, a touching reunion that, as far as Tomura Shigaraki was concerned, was long awaited.

"Master!" Tomura said with a happy smile behind one of his many hand-masks, dropping to his knees due to being overwhelmed with sheer emotion.

All For One, the legendary villain, smiled behind his new life support systems at Tomura. "It is very good to see you once more, Tomura." He said. "I'm so happy to see that you've kept the League of Villains together in my absence."

Behind All For One were the Seven Demon Lords, all appraising Tomura with various looks on their faces. "That is Tomura Shigaraki? That's his successor?" Good Luck raised a curious eyebrow.

"He looks like a very yummy dish." Queen's long tongue snaked out of her mouth before licking her lips with a predatory gaze in her eyes.

Gilded King scowled. "Successor, bah, if anyone should be succeeding him it should be me." He muttered to himself.

Kuro-Nuri gazed at Tomura with interest. "Such darkness in those eyes." He mused. "Perhaps a painting of that hate in my spare time will create a wonderful image."

Berserker and Carnivore both remained silent as they gazed at Tomura, appraising the young villain. Mad Bomber, however, just grinned. "Well, I'm always up for trying new things." He noted. "Let's see how the new kid handles himself. If the boss chose him, then he must see something in him."

Meanwhile, behind Tomura were his trusted associates. They were gazing at the Demon Lords in disbelief. "Oh man," the reptilian-looking villain known as Spinner muttered, "they're not even disguising the killing intent they've got for us. We're like fresh meat to them."

"It's prison rules. The kids on the block are always fresh meat to the longtime inmates." The theatrical Mr. Compress noted.

"They're just trying to see if we've got what it takes to hack it like they did." Dabi pointed out to his fellow villains. "All we can do is prove ourselves with a little more chaos."

"Yeah, but what do we do about those scary looks they're giving us now? It's freaking me out!" The bipolar Twice exclaimed before adding. "I love it!"

Himiko Toga pouted at the Demon Lords. "I can't believe we got these guys, but Mr. Stainy didn't want to join up with us. Does he hate us?" She wondered.

"Shigaraki already made it pretty clear he's not the Hero Killer's biggest fan...even though tearing down the Hero Society is what Stain wanted. From what Kurogiri told me after we joined, the Hero Killer doesn't like him much either." Dabi pointed out. "I can't pretend to know what Stain is thinking, but perhaps even though they both have the same goal...that doesn't necessarily mean they're gonna get along."

Spinner fell silent at that, thinking back to how he joined up with the League to carry out the Hero Killer: Stain's will. "I mean look at us," Dabi sagely pointed out, "we're a ragtag bunch of misfits with only one thing in common: society cast us all out. So, we're going to tear down that society in response. Other than that, we have nothing in common at all."

"Nothing in common, but we all get along so well!" Twice excitedly noted before adding. "It kinda pisses me off! Groups should have a little friction to make sure we keep sight of our goal!"

"Don't worry Twice, with you around to constantly contradict yourself, we'll always have a little friction." Dabi deadpanned.

"That was cold, Dabi!" Twice yelled. "Thanks!"

"Master," Tomura addressed his teacher, "what will we do now? We have these new allies...but I'm not sure what we should do next."

"The only thing we need to do right now, Tomura, is follow them." All For One explained. "Their goal is the same as ours, after all. To destroy this society and this transient peace that the weak have enjoyed for so long."

"I like it already!" Toga declared.

All For One gazed at Tomura's allies, and then at Tomura. "I'm sure you all have plenty of questions about this Cult the League of Villains have teamed up with, and I can confirm that everything they claim is true. They are indeed not of this world."

"Oh, like aliens!" Twice exclaimed. "But wait, they're too human!"

"That itself is questionable." Mr. Compress pointed out. "Their strength actually surpasses normal Quirks. It's like their only limit is their own stamina."

All For One nodded. "I once told you, Tomura, that when the day came that you had to take up my mission, you would need mighty allies. It appears that fate is on our side today because those new mighty allies came to you."

"Thanks!' Twice yelled.

"He was talking about the Cult, Twice." Dabi muttered in exasperation.

"What now?" Tomura inquired.

"We follow their lead and create a new world." All For One responded simply. "And the new world that rises from the ashes of the old will have no need for idiotic things such as heroes."

"Because they won't even remember that heroes existed." All For One darkly concluded.

"So, we're really going to kill everyone then?" Spinner sounded shocked at this. "Lord All For One, wasn't this originally just about tearing down the Hero Society, like what Stain planned to do?"

"And it still is." All For One assured Spinner. "However, you can kill as many heroes as you wish. There will always be another to rise up in their place. Heroes, my friends, are like cockroaches. Why, just awhile ago, I heard that All Might has inexplicably returned to battle with his Quirk."

"That's impossible!" Mr. Compress exclaimed. "He was supposed to be on his last legs!"

"The impossible, my friends, seems to have been made possible." All For One responded. "And the impossible being made possible has opened my eyes. Just as I said, you can kill as many heroes as you want to tear down the Hero Society. But you will never destroy the core. The very idea of heroics. As long as that idea remains in the hearts of mankind, the Hero Society will never vanish."

"So we kill everyone instead." Dabi realized. "Snuff out the flame of heroism permanently. But how the hell are we supposed to rule when there's no one to rule over?"

"To create, you must destroy." All For One explained. "For new life to prosper, old lives must end."

"Tell me, did you all honestly believe that the Cult of the End brings about genocide just because they enjoy it?" Everyone gasped at All For One's piercing question.

"No, my friends," All For One continued, "evolution rises from extinction. When the dinosaurs became extinct, new life evolved in its place. When the human race was powerless against the 'evils' of the world, superpowers evolved inside of them to give them a fighting chance."

"This is not mere genocide, my friends." All For One revealed. "This is a cleansing that will make way for new life, so says my liaison to the Archbishop of this faith: Cardinal Shido."

"So by killing everyone, we just sit back and wait to see what new life rises from the ashes." Dabi mused.

"And then rule over this new life as kings." Mr. Compress added.

"Awesome!" Toga squealed.

"I'm well aware that a lot of you had old lives that you left behind." All For One noted. "If any of you are reluctant to sever those remaining links, I understand. However, please know that I value your presence in this army, and would like you to stay."

"What links?" Dabi responded. "I severed my links the minute I joined and started burning fake heroes to ashes."

One by one, each of the new villains nodded in agreement at Dabi's statement. All For One chuckled. "Such wonderful allies you've found, Tomura." He complimented. "They are quite like my Demon Lords."

"You flatter us, Boss." Mad Bomber folded his arms and grinned.

All For One nodded. "Now then," he said, "I do believe it is time for us to discard the cheap name of 'League of Villains.'"

"If you believe that is best, Master." Tomura nodded submissively.

All For One chuckled. "I have the perfect name." He claimed. "In recognition of our many odd members and the oddities that are our otherworld allies, I hereby name this group: the Paranormal Liberation Front. We will destroy this society who rejects us, and everyone in it. And we will rebuild with something a bit more accepting of the strange."

Though All For One had managed to win everyone over with that little speech, inwardly, his mind was telling a far different story. A story about the true reality, which he had expressed with half-truths.

 _Even if it is true that these Cultists come across as Darwinists at best, and genocidal maniacs at worst, there really is no telling if new life will bloom from carnage. True, the universe has a habit of creating life to fill that void, but with what they're planning to do to this world, and the worlds around them, I have no idea if it will actually work. Personally, I think this is the end of the universe as we know it._

All For One chuckled inwardly. _But honestly, that isn't so bad. Tomura, I raised you to be a Symbol of Fear, never to be a Demon King. You were meant to terrify people, so that whether they were going about their lives, or experiencing their final moments, all they would feel is fear of you, and the people around you. But, even if you are my successor, you will_ _ **never**_ _truly be the Demon King. That title belongs to me and me alone. Unfortunately, in a world where heroism is in the hearts of the people...that very world will never accept a Demon King as ruler, even if he rules from the shadows._

 _And when the Devil is rejected by the world, there is only one thing left to do: destroy that world. If All Might, and eventually Izuku Midoriya, is this tale's Messiah that raises the world up to new heights, then I will return to my position as the Devil and drag the world to Hell...permanently._

 _You got what you wanted, All Might. I'm not going to try and take over the world like I once aspired to do. I will no longer be the world's shadow ruler because ruling the world no longer interests me. But you are not going to like what I'm going to do to the world instead._

Back at the safehouse, Sojiro was gazing at his other newest ally with a look of surprise on his face. Considering his condition and how she had specifically desired to be alone after resigning from her teaching position, he never once thought he would see her again.

"To think we'd meet again in a place like this, Mitsuko." Sojiro mused.

Mitsuko nodded with a small smile. "Indeed, Grandmaster," she said kindly, "it is good to see you...but honestly, it's terrible that we all had to meet up during such an awful time."

Sojiro shook his head. "It is true that I would have preferred we met up again in a more peaceful scenario." He admitted. "But I am glad you're here, Mitsuko. Your presence bolsters our fighting power."

"And thank you for saving Noriko." Sojiro added, gazing at Noriko, who had brought the two of them together.

"Oh it was nothing." Mitsuko brushed the matter off. "Noriko is one of my precious students, after all."

Mitsuko then folded her arms. "But we don't have time to reminisce. Not when the Cult of the End has returned."

Sojiro frowned. "It seems like it was just yesterday when they began their original crusade against the universe." He noted. "When I think back to that. The only four people who fought against that crusade that are still around are myself, Princess Heiko, Lord Chitsujo, and Konton. Everyone else was either killed in battle...or they have passed on from old age."

Mitsuko sighed. "It's true, the only knowledge, I've ever had of these people until recently was the history books. I have to say though, the history books did not do their actions justice. What I saw was...awful."

"So, they've been doing this in secret for awhile?" Sojiro raised an eyebrow. "They've been hiding right under our noses all this time?"

Mitsuko nodded. "As far as I know, yes. I only recently came across a world they destroyed. I wanted to get a report out to the king, but I was worried that if I wasted any time, I'd be too late to warn any of the other nearby worlds."

Sojiro was surprised at this. "Ignoring protocol isn't like you, Mitsuko." He noted. "You should've sent Lord Chitsujo a report as soon as you saw what happened. I had Shuya do the same after we came across another destroyed world."

Mitsuko sighed. "You'll have to forgive me, Grandmaster." She said. "I know what I should've done, but I just couldn't help but think of all the little children who could be slaughtered while that happened."

Sojiro nodded in understanding, knowing Mitsuko's reasoning in that regard. "Well, it's not like we would be able to get much help anyway, unless we can somehow get into contact with any other Travelers." He said. "You have received word that Menou has just gone to war with Rakuen, yes?"

Mitsuko nodded. "I have heard," she nodded, "to think the relationship between Lord Chitsujo and his brother has deteriorated to this point."

"Those boys used to be so close." Sojiro lamented. "But we can't dwell on what is happening at home. We need to focus on the Cult's return to power. Stopping them falls on us."

"Right," Mitsuko nodded, "I suppose the first thing that I need to ask is whether they are as strong as they were when they first attacked?"

Sojiro shook his head. "As far as I know, no." He said. "I think their defeat thousands of years ago has weakened them considerably. Probably why they're staying hidden this time."

"But they're still a threat." Sojiro added. "Especially with Menou preoccupied with a war of their own. We're on our own here."

"Damn," Mitsuko muttered, "so where do we go from here?"

"Well," Sojiro sighed, "as loathe as I am to say this, we need to take advantage of the fact that the people of this world can actually fight. We need to guide them and make them stronger if they want any hope of surviving these trials."

Mitsuko frowned. "There are children who fight in this world, Grandmaster." She pointed out. "I can already tell you I'm opposed to this plan."

"I don't like this any more than you do." Sojiro acknowledged. "But they won't survive without any preparation."

Mitsuko scowled. Sojiro sighed and smiled. "Just think of it as being back at the academy, training the next generation of Menou soldiers." He offered. "It'll be just like old times, eh Mitsuko."

"You'll be great, Mitsuko-Sensei!" Noriko spoke up. "Everybody loved learning from you, and these Otherworlders will too!"

Mitsuko smiled at Noriko's faith in her. "Thank you, Noriko." She said before addressing Sojiro once again. "I'm still opposed to this, but you are right, Grandmaster. I'll do all I can to help these people become strong enough to survive."

"That's all I need to hear, Mitsuko." Sojiro nodded. "We're glad to have you aboard."

"We'll be leaving tomorrow," Sojiro said, "and we'll be bringing someone very important to this world's future along with us."

"Important to this world's future?" Mitsuko raised a curious eyebrow.

"A young man destined to become the world's greatest hero." Sojiro responded. "He's a nice boy, you'll like him."

Noriko then yawned loudly, making Sojiro and Mitsuko look at her in surprise. "S-sorry," she said, red with embarrassment, "I've been healing people with life-threatening injuries all day, so I'm very tired. I'm going to head back to our base early and get some rest."

"Go right ahead, Noriko. Mitsuko and I can handle things from here." Sojiro nodded.

"I'll see you again real soon, Noriko." Mitsuko promised.

Noriko politely waved at her former Reiki-Control teacher and quickly went through the chant to open the portal to the Void. "See you tomorrow, Grandmaster, Mitsuko-Sensei." Noriko told them before stepping into the portal.

"I suppose I'll retire to the safehouse." Sojiro decided. "Mitsuko, where do you intend to go?"

"If you don't mind, Grandmaster, I'd like to patrol the area for the night, just in case the Cult or their allies in this world decide to come back." Mitsuko told him.

"That's fine by me." Sojiro nodded. "I'd come with you, but I'm worried I'd slow you down. My stamina just isn't what it used to be. I will say that being forced back into combat has improved it just a little."

"You have been retired from the frontlines for so long." Mitsuko acknowledged, having been filled in on Sojiro's condition. "You should expect to be a bit rusty. And with your illness, I'm honestly surprised you can actually last in a fight nowadays. Er...no offense, Grandmaster."

"None taken." Sojiro smiled. "Believe me, I honestly agree with you. With how weak I am compared to what I was in my prime, I honestly have no right to stand with everyone on the battlefield."

Mitsuko's expression turned serious. "How long?" She asked.

Sojiro's face fell. "I don't know," he admitted, "with every battle I participate in, the stress of it ravages my body more and more. Noriko's trying to stave the illness off with her treatments as best she can, but...at best, I'm hoping we can finish this upcoming war before my time comes."

"...I see." Mitsuko said sadly.

"But Mitsuko," Sojiro turned to her, "should the worst happen to me, I need you to promise me that you'll lead them in my place. I hired you to teach, like every other teacher at the Academy. So I know I can trust you to guide these people should I die either in battle, or from my illness."

Mitsuko smiled and shook her head. "Grandmaster, I cannot promise that." She admitted. "Because truth be told, I just can't see you dying before completing your final mission."

"Ever the optimist." Sojiro mused.

"Perhaps," Mitsuko admitted, "but I also know you well enough to know that you are far too stubborn to die without fulfilling each of your duties first."

Sojiro chuckled and gave Mitsuko a grateful smile. "It truly is a blessing to have you here, Mitsuko." He told her. "Your presence really does fill me with confidence that we have a chance."

"You weren't confident before?" Mitsuko raised a curious eyebrow.

Sojiro sighed. "I'll be honest with you, Mitsuko." He said. "These worlds...compared to Menou, compared to the Act Worlds, the people who reside in these worlds are weak. I think the Cult is specifically targeting these worlds, knowing that."

"So they know they'd get destroyed if they went after stronger targets. That's good to know at least." Mitsuko hummed thoughtfully.

"But, in a strange way...I think that's why you and I are here." Sojiro pointed out.

"Oh, how do you figure, Grandmaster?" Mitsuko inquired curiously.

"We are teachers, Mitsuko." Sojiro reminded her. "Our role, first and foremost, is to guide the next generation. Help them to greater heights than before. Perhaps they are too weak to survive right now, but we can help them. We can make them strong enough to survive, Mitsuko. This...could very well be the greatest job we've ever been given."

"Teaching people to survive against an old enemy hellbent on returning to its genocidal ways." Mitsuko mused. "Yeah, I suppose I can get behind an idea like that."

"So, you're in?" Sojiro asked.

"Do you even need to ask, Grandmaster?" Mitsuko smiled. "I've seen enough death for ten lifetimes. We're putting an end to this, once and for all."

With that, Mitsuko sped away with her vanishing walk to patrol the ruined city. Sojiro sighed to himself as slumped against a wall. "Once again, we were too late to stop the Cult before they were able to assault a world." He lamented. "I suppose by now I simply have to accept the fact we'll most likely be too late. They seem to be one step ahead of us, so all we can do at this point is damage control."

"Thankfully, we're gathering allies. They're weak for now...but I'm confident with my guidance, I can make them strong."

Sojiro took a deep breath. "For their sake, they have to be strong. This will be my final job as a teacher...I need to make sure I get this right."

Morning soon came. Izuku Midoriya quickly met up with Sojiro, who had managed to sleep in spite of the immense stress he was feeling. Izuku held up his phone to the old man. "I just got a text from my friend, Uraraka. Apparently all of Class 1-A's being held at an evacuation center."

Sojiro nodded but had a thoughtful look on his face. "We'll have to get them in a private setting if you really want to tell them the truth." Sojiro reminded him. "Evacuation centers aren't the most private of areas."

Izuku shook his head. "I asked Uraraka about that," he admitted, "she told me that they're being kept separate from the other evacuees."

This caught the also-awake Tenya Iida's attention. "What? Why?"

Izuku frowned. "Mr. Aizawa told them...there was a chance they could be called into active duty too, since they have their provisional licenses and are therefore allowed to do hero work."

"What?" Sojiro was outraged at this.

"Grandmaster, please calm yourself." Tenya said. "We all agreed to earn our provisional licenses knowing that we would one day have to risk our lives."

"Yes, doing hero work, but not participating in a war." Sojiro growled before calming himself. "But, I'm trying to win allies. I can't hope to do that if I'm criticizing every decision they make. I'm just glad All Might is going to speak on my behalf. The people will listen to him."

Tenya grimaced. "I think we're missing the main point here though." He noted. "The fact that they're already calling students with provisional licenses into active duty shows how bad the situation really is."

"God," Tenya continued, paling, "how many heroes did we lose yesterday?"

Izuku paled as well at that statement. He honestly had never considered that. Sojiro noticed their expressions and managed a smile. "All we can do is keep pushing forward." He reminded them. "We'll get through this. We just have to stick together and watch each other's backs."

Tenya and Izuku both nodded at that statement. "So, you guys are heading to the evacuation center, huh?" Naomasa Tsukauchi entered the conversation, flanked by Inko Midoriya. "I'll gladly drive you guys there."

Tenya then looked at Izuku. "I know I encouraged you to do this, but you don't have to." He told Izuku. "You're your own person, after all."

"No, I'm going to do this." Izuku said resolutely. "If sacrificing my friendship with them will protect them from the people who will no doubt be after them for my secret, then so be it."

"Izuku…" Tenya said sadly before trying to brighten up the mood. "Give our classmates a bit more credit. I'm sure they'll understand."

Inko's face fell at Izuku's declaration. She knew how important his friends were to him. So, she tried to cheer him up as well. "Izuku, honey," she said, "you are the most selfless boy I know. I'm sure your friends will see that when they see how far you're willing to go to protect them."

"...Thanks Mom." Izuku said.

Inko then pulled her son into an embrace. "I'm so proud of you." She said. "Really, I am. I'm so, so proud of the man you've become. You go out there and become the hero you're meant to be, do you understand me?"

"I will."

"And remember your promise to me, Izuku." Inko added.

Izuku smiled. "I will, I'll always come home, no matter how dangerous things get."

An hour later, a car pulled up in front of the evacuation center, which was just a massive sports stadium. Tenya's eyes widened at the busses that filled up the parking lots. "Unbelievable," he muttered, "were so many people really unable to escape?"

"The attack was so sudden, nobody had time to react." Tsukauchi sighed.

"Of course," Sojiro nodded grimly, "they must've used some sort of spatial abilities to invade without warning, like we Travelers do when we want to get around."

"Izuku," Sojiro turned to the young boy, "did your friend direct you to where they are?"

Izuku nodded. "Yeah, just follow me." He said. "I'll get us all there in no time."

Indeed, just as Izuku said, the quartet was in an isolated room with Class 1-A within minutes. Immediately upon entering, Izuku and Tenya were swarmed by their happy classmates. "Oh thank goodness!" Ochaco was embracing the two boys the tightest. "I never heard from either of you all day, I was getting so worried."

Izuku was turned into a stuttering mess while Tenya gave Ochaco an apologetic smile. "Sorry, Uraraka," he said, "a lot happened to us yesterday."

"Same here, dude." Eijirou Kirishima told Tenya. He then noticed Sojiro. "Speaking of which, what are you doing here, Gramps?"

"Mr. Sojiro?" Tsuyu Asui was shocked at the sight of the old man who had saved them all yesterday.

Sojiro smiled pleasantly. "Well now, looks like we all met again much sooner."

Sojiro looked at Izuku. "And to think you all are a part of the same class too." He mused. "Fate is truly a funny thing sometimes."

Katsuki Bakugou remained silent. So the old man had gotten into contact with Deku already. "Now the," Sojiro turned to Izuku, "Izuku, I believe you had something you wanted to say to your class."

Sojiro then noticed Shota Aizawa. "Oh, and your homeroom teacher as well, if he would like to hear this." He added.

"As his teacher, I should always hear what the problem child has to say." Aizawa deadpanned, making Izuku whimper comically.

Izuku then mustered up his courage and stared at his classmates with the most serious expression they had ever seen on his face. Katsuki's eyes widened slightly. He knew that look, it was the same look Izuku had before he told him about his Quirk.

"Everyone, I do indeed have something to say to you. Something to confess." Izuku revealed. "I know it sounds unbelievable, but I can assure you that everything I'm about to tell you is one-hundred percent true."

Tenya nodded. "Indeed, I can back up everything Izuku says as the truth." He claimed.

Katsuki's eyes widened. Tenya knew now? At that moment, without thinking, Katsuki stepped forward and spoke up. "I can back up what he's about to tell you as well." He admitted. "Deku told me about this awhile back, and All Might confirmed it."

"Wait, this thing Midoriya has to tell us involves All Might?" Momo Yaoyorozu was confused by this.

Shoto Todoroki raised a curious eyebrow at Izuku, wondering if this would reveal anything about his connection with All Might. Maybe he was All Might's secret love child…

"Kacchan…" Izuku muttered, sincerely touched that his rival was willing to back him up on this. Mustering his courage, Izuku began to speak. "Yeah, with two people backing me up on this, I'm sure you can all believe me now, right?"

"Well, if Bakugou is willing to back _you_ up, then yeah." Denki Kaminari noted.

Izuku nodded. "Then I guess it's best to get it right out." He admitted before gesturing to himself. "The truth is, I wasn't born with my Quirk, I inherited it."

Silence. You could hear a pin drop in the room. No one responded. How could they? Inheriting a Quirk? That was impossible. And yet Tenya and Katsuki were apparently backing him up on this. Izuku sighed. "I was born Quirkless." He revealed. "I lived Quirkless until a few months before I enrolled at UA."

"Can definitely confirm that." Katsuki nodded. "There was a reason I call him Deku. 'Defenseless Izuku.' The weakling without a Quirk."

"Geez, Bakugou…" Eijirou frowned at the way his best friend used to be.

Izuku nodded. "Then, in a chance encounter, I came across All Might." He continued. "And after...somehow managing to impress him with my heroic spirit, All Might gave me the chance of a lifetime. He offered me his Quirk. He offered me the position of his successor."

Several mouths dropped open at this. It all seemed so unbelievable. Yet, Izuku was assuring them all that it was the truth. And Katsuki and Tenya were backing him up. "One of the reasons All Might had to retire was because giving me his Quirk accelerated the loss of his power." Izuku revealed.

"But how was All Might able to do such a thing?" Momo asked curiously. "I've never heard of a Quirk being transferable."

"It is one of the powers of this Quirk, One For All." Izuku revealed. "It's been passed down from generation to generation. One user begins stockpiling its strength, then the next bearer will add to that strength. And then the next, and the next, and the next...and right now, as the current bearer of One For All, the ninth wielder, adding to that strength, and using it for the sake of humanity is my responsibility."

"Just as it is my responsibility...to succeed All Might as the Symbol of Peace." That next statement made everyone gasp.

"Holy crap…" Denki muttered.

"So manly…" Eijirou added.

"That explains your Quirk's similarities with All Might's." Tsuyu realized.

"And why All Might always seemed to be in your corner." Shoto added.

Izuku nodded. Fumikage Tokoyami then spoke up. "Midoriya," he said, "why are you telling us all this? This seems like something that should be kept a secret. Why would you tell any of us this? Surely, you must realize how reckless telling such a dangerous secret is?"

Izuku sighed. "You're right, Tokoyami," he said, "the truth about One For All is one of the most well-guarded secrets in the world. And under normal circumstances, me telling you would be reckless. Up until a few days ago, at most, only a few people knew the truth."

"But, things changed," Izuku explained, "namely, the fact that our new enemies already seem to know my secret."

"Hold on, how did they know your secret?" Hanta Sero demanded.

"They allied with someone who did." Izuku revealed. "All For One, the villain that had been All Might's final battle as a hero. All Might's secret archnemesis."

"That freak show was All Might's nemesis?!" Eijirou exclaimed.

"I guess that makes sense." Fumikage muttered. "The only person who should be able to fight All Might to a standstill would be his nemesis."

"I don't know how All For One found out, but he knows." Izuku admitted. "And he probably told the Cult about me as well. Needless to say, I'm now a high priority target for these guys. They know that I'm important to this world because of my power. So they won't stop until they've managed to take my life."

Everyone paled at this. Aizawa was furious, however. He wanted to track down All Might and throttle him for putting a child in danger like this. "Midoriya," he spoke up after calming himself, "you didn't answer Tokoyami's question. Why are you telling us this? What benefit could you possibly receive from telling us such a heavily guarded secret?"

Izuku smiled sadly. "To be honest," he said, "it's because I want to protect you all."

Ochaco felt her heart pang at Izuku's statement. It was such a genuine statement. It reminded her of how genuine a guy Izuku really was. "You guys know how it is, the villain finds out the hero's identity, and then the people close to the hero become a target. The reality is, you guys are targets because you all know me. The villains could target you to get to me. I'm telling you this so that you'll all know to protect yourselves from them."

Izuku then looked down. "Although, truth be told, I think it would be more preferable if you all just cut me out of your lives. If you all distanced yourselves from me...then they might not use you to get to me. You'd be safer...or at least, safe as you can be when we're on the brink of war."

Ochaco now felt her heart break. Mina Ashido could not resist speaking up upon hearing this statement. "Midoriya," she said, "you can't mean that. You'd never want us to stop being friends with you."

"I'd rather you did, if it meant you all were safe." Izuku admitted. "I...I don't want to see any of you get hurt because of me."

This made Class 1-A fall silent once more. Shoto then spoke up. "Midoriya," he said, "you told us what we need to do now. But what do you intend to do about this? If you're going to be a target…"

Shoto trailed off at this, surprisingly unable to finish his sentence. Izuku sighed. "I'm going to get stronger and I'm going to fight." Izuku replied. "I'm going to make sure that these villains don't cause any more suffering."

"You're going to try and fight them alone?!" Ochaco exclaimed.

"Not alone. The other heroes will be fighting too." Izuku pointed out. "And then of course there is Grandmaster Sojiro and his allies."

Izuku sighed. "I'm terrified of this," he admitted, "but I'm more terrified of what will happen if I don't fight. I have to do this. It's my responsibility. I...I'm going to become the Symbol of Peace, like my master before me."

"But I will tell you this. This...will probably be the last you guys see of me...for a long time." Izuku sadly admitted. "Nothing would make me happier to stay friends with you. But I can't see you guys because I'll only be putting you at risk. That's...why I think it'd be better if we all just severed our ties. That way, parting is a bit easier."

"I'll do anything, if it helps me protect you all." Izuku told them before adding in a choked up tone. "You guys are my friends...I don't want to lose any of you."

Silence, once again. The other students of Class 1-A looked at each other, one by one. All of them were wondering just how they should respond to this information dump and emotional plea from their well-liked classmate.

Tenya gave Izuku a sad gaze. _You really are the least selfless person in the world, Izuku._ He noted with admiration. _No matter what happens though...I won't sever my ties with you._

 _But,_ Tenya added with a small smile, _don't underestimate our classmates either._

At that moment, the man who was arguably the heart of Class 1-A, stepped up to the plate. Eijirou Kirishima grinned in anticipation, slamming his fist together. "Okay then," he said, "so if I'm understanding this correctly, the bad guys are after our buddy."

"That means, _we've_ gotta get stronger so we can protect Izuku." Eijirou noted.

Getting Eijirou's meaning, Mina spoke up next, backing up her old friend's statement. "Seems simple enough." She nodded in agreement with a smile. "And since the guy we're getting stronger for is our friend, I think we've got all the motivation we need."

Momo chuckled. "Protecting the man who will be the next Symbol of Peace. To think I would have such a job as a hero." She mused before smiling. "But since that man is also a friend, nothing could make me happier."

Izuku's eyes widened in disbelief. One by one, the students of Class 1-A began to smile, fully resolving themselves to do the exact opposite of what he wanted of them. "Izuku truly shines brighter than all of us." Yuga Aoyama noted. "No wonder All Might chose him."

Fumikage chuckled. "Maybe once Izuku returns, we keep with the buddy system?" He suggested. "Take shifts in looking after him, yeah? Just so we're clear though, I can only protect him during the day...unless of course I have a breakthrough and can keep a better handle on Dark Shadow during nighttime."

"I'll need someone with me when I'm shadowing Izuku." Denki pointed out. "I'd hate to short circuit while we're fighting villains. But hey, maybe I'll have a breakthrough in my Quirk too. Would definitely make things less embarrassing in the long run."

"Umm...I don't know how much I'll be able to do, but I want to help as well." Koji Koda nervously spoke up.

"Same here!" Toru Hagakure excitedly added before addressing Izuku. "Don't you worry, I'll be your invisible shield, Izuku! Just when those bad guys think you're alone, I'll be right there with a kick to the head!"

"What are you saying?!" Izuku demanded. "Guys, I can't ask you to-"

"Stop it." Izuku gasped at the sad voice of Ochaco Uraraka.

Izuku looked to where Ochaco was, only to be suddenly embraced by the gravity-master of Class 1-A. "Uraraka…" he said softly.

"Please, stop it." Ochaco tearfully told him. "Deku, stop trying to push us all away."

This made Izuku fall silent. "Thank you," Ochaco said to him, "to think...from the very beginning, you were carrying this burden, not just for us, but for the entire world. You are, without a doubt, a worthy successor for All Might."

"But please, stop thinking you have to shoulder this on your own." Ochaco continued. "We want to be heroes too, Deku."

Everyone else remained silent, letting Ochaco say her piece. "You're our friend, Deku. Did you even once consider that we didn't want to lose you either? That we didn't want to stop being your friend just because your Quirk makes you a target?"

Ochaco broke the embrace looked up at Izuku with a tearful smile. "Because you're wrong! We want you to stay with us! We all want to keep being friends!" She exclaimed. "Class 1-A without you...it just wouldn't be the same, Deku!"

"She's right," Hanta Sero gave a small smile, "you and Bakugou inspire us all to be better versions of ourselves."

"Whether it's Bakugou's drive to win, or your heroic spirit, you two are the heart and soul of Class 1-A. No way are we just going to let you leave us. No one can replace you, Izuku." Kyoka Jiro added.

"And now that we know just what it is your going through, we can even help you on your journey to succeed All Might." Tsuyu offered.

"Besides, it's just as you said, Izuku." Mezo Shoji added. "We're already in danger any way. The world is already at war. We might as well stay by your side so we can all continue getting stronger together."

"Yeah man, Plus Ultra style!" Rikido Sato excitedly exclaimed.

"We're in this together until the end." Mashirao Ojiro promised. "Because we're not just classmates. I think we've honestly become something like family. A pretty dysfunctional family, but a family all the same."

"You bastard!" Minoru Mineta wailed with no malice. "No wonder you've been getting all the chicks since day 1! No way in hell am I letting you die knowing what I know! If I stay close to you, maybe that magnetism will rub off on me!"

"Geez, Mineta." Mashirao sighed. After all those heartfelt statements, Minoru just ruins it with his own nonsense.

"But...but…" Izuku was in disbelief...and just a little bit of denial.

"Oh just shut up, Deku!" Katsuki yelled.

"Eep, Kacchan?!" Izuku was stunned by the tone of Katsuki's voice. It was loud and angry as always...but strangely enough there was a gentleness to it as well.

Katsuki's next statement confirmed what Izuku was thinking. "Everyone's already made up their mind, so it's no use trying to push them away. You're stuck with us, so quit your bitching."

"And don't think just because you're supposed to succeed All Might that any of us are just going to let you become the Number 1 Hero!" Katsuki added. "That title is going to be mine, unless by some miniscule chance that you snatch it from me!"

"Kacchan…" Izuku said softly.

At that moment, Shoto spoke up. "Midoriya...no, Izuku." Shoto said to him with the smallest hint of a smile. "I finally understand why All Might is always in your corner. And it's not because you are his successor."

"It's because you have the heroic spirit that he must've been looking for...and it's only grown as you've matured." Shoto told him. "You...need to give yourself more credit. You're far better than you think you are."

Izuku's eyes widened. Shoto's smile grew. "I should know, that spirit was what saved me." He admitted. "So Izuku, allow me to help you. Allow us to help you. Even heroes need people they can rely on. Not sidekicks...but friends."

"And to repeat Bakugou," Shoto continued, "I have no intention of letting you become Number 1 either. You don't get a free pass just because you are to be the new Symbol of Peace. The Number 1 Hero...will be me."

"Dream on Icy Hot!" Katsuki yelled.

"So," Shoto ignored Katsuki and continued speaking to Izuku, "let's all keep getting stronger. Let's keep rising past every challenge we meet. Let's see who becomes the Number 1 Hero first."

"And above all else," Shoto concluded, "let's keep protecting each other, watching each other's backs. Let's be each other's heroes."

At that moment, Izuku began to weep. "You guys," he managed, "seriously, you guys are just…the best…"

"Everyone's made up their mind, Izuku." Tenya gently told him. "I don't think anyone has any intention of abandoning you. Just the opposite in fact."

"Yeah, I know…" Izuku sniffled.

Sojiro could not help but smile. Though he was still opposed to children being put on the battlefield during wartime, moments like these genuinely touched his old heart. This class of heroes-in-training...they were the embodiment of true friends.

Izuku then managed to calm himself to speak clearly. "Okay, you all win." He told them. "We'll stick together...and we'll win together."

Class 1-A nodded in full agreement. "Everyone...seriously, thank you." Izuku said, looking like an actual weight had been lifted off his shoulders. "I'm...so happy that I'm a part of this class."

Izuku's classmates nodded once more. Sojiro then heaved a sigh. "Well now, as much as I'd hate to break up such a touching moment between friends, we really do need to get going." Sojiro grimly admitted. "Izuku needs to be brought back to my headquarters to begin his training."

"Yo, Gramps, let us come with you." Katsuki told him.

"Yeah, if we all get stronger with Deku, we can better help him!" Ochaco pointed out.

Sojiro shook his head. "I appreciate the thought, little ones, I really do." He said. "However, I can't just take nineteen more children with me."

"He's right. For something like this, you will _actually_ need permission from your parents." Aizawa finally spoke up.

"But we're going to war!" Eijirou reminded Aizawa. "Shouldn't that be an exception?"

"No." Aizawa said bluntly.

Sojiro chuckled before giving Izuku's classmates a simple offer. "Receive permission from your parents, as I did from Izuku's mother, and you will be able to join me for later training. I'll have to return here eventually to check in with All Might on a proper alliance with this world, so I'll come find you then."

"Those are acceptable terms, Grandmaster." Tenya spoke up, on behalf of Class 1-A.

"Man, I'm so jealous of you, Izuku." Eijirou admitted. "This old guy's super strong! You're gonna be way ahead of us by the time we get to train with him! You might even be stronger with Katsuki and Shoto by the time we get to train with ya."

"Say that again and you die!" Katsuki yelled angrily.

Izuku laughed. Just like that, things were back to normal. He then noticed Aizawa gazing at him. "Yes, Mr. Aizawa?" He asked nervously.

"No wonder you ended up the problem child." Aizawa noted. "When you were All Might's student first, you were only ever going to end up a pain in the ass."

Izuku whimpered slightly at how strict Aizawa was. Aizawa then continued to speak. "I still can't say I agree with All Might choosing a kid to take over for him." He admitted. "I guess that's just one of many things we're going to have to talk about later on."

"But," Aizawa continued, "I can see why he chose you, Midoriya."

Izuku's eyes widened. Aizawa...was actually complimenting him. "Keep getting stronger," Aizawa told him, "you get your Quirk fully under control, and become the hero that All Might seems to believe you will become."

"And when the day comes that you return to this world...the first thing you're going to do is spar with me." Aizawa ordered in a surprisingly gentle tone. "As your homeroom teacher...I should see how much you've improved in this little 'internship' you're taking part in."

Izuku smiled widely at Aizawa's order. "Yes sir!" He eagerly exclaimed.

Sojiro chuckled. "None of you should sell yourselves short." He told them. "You've all got wonderful heroic spirits too. I truly look forward to seeing how you all grow once I return here."

"Come, Izuku," Sojiro addressed his newest student, "we mustn't keep ourselves any longer. Our other allies will be joining us...now."

At that moment, Mitsuko entered the room. "Grandmaster." Mitsuko said curtly.

"Good, we're all here." Sojiro nodded. "Are you ready, Izuku?"

Izuku nodded. "Yes, Grandmaster."

"Any last words you'd like to say?" Sojiro inquired.

Izuku nodded and gave one last determined smile to his classmates. "Let's all meet up again, at UA." He told them. "We'll all be stronger by then."

"Sweet, like a class reunion without the graduation." Eijirou grinned. "I'm there!"

"We'll all be there, Deku." Ochaco promised. "And we'll be stronger."

Izuku nodded again. "Plus Ultra." He said.

"Plus Ultra." Shoto nodded with a small smile.

Katsuki sighed. "Plus Ultra." He muttered, not wanting to be the one guy who did not say it.

"Plus Ultra." The rest of Class 1-A chimed in.

"What adorably driven children." Mitsuko said with stars in her eyes. She had to physically restrain herself from running up to them and creating the world's biggest group hug. She was not fondly remembered as 'Smother-Sensei' for nothing.

"Alright then, Izuku, let us be off." Sojiro told them.

"I'll see you all again, I promise!" Izuku declared.

"Hell yeah, brother. You just focus on getting stronger!" Eijirou exclaimed.

"But don't you dare get yourself killed before that happens, Deku! That'd just piss me off!" Katsuki added.

"What he's saying is, come back to us alive, Izuku." Mina told him.

"The hell I am!" Katsuki yelled at the pink-skinned student.

Sojiro quickly said the usual chant and opened the portal to the Void. "So cool!" Denki and Hanta said in unison.

"Come, Izuku." Sojiro ordered.

Saying his goodbyes repeatedly, Izuku followed Sojiro into the portal, stepping onto a lit up platform. The portal then closed, forcing Izuku to turn away from his old life and look ahead to the future. He immediately saw a golden building at the end of the path. "Is that...your headquarters, Grandmaster?" Izuku asked curiously.

"It's a makeshift headquarters," Sojiro admitted, "we never expected to have to fight a war. But, the good news is, it is capable of rapidly expanding to accommodate new residents."

"Awesome," Izuku muttered, eyes wide, "so this is your Avengers Tower…"

"...Right." Sojiro sighed, still not used to Izuku's fanboy tendencies. "Anyway, let us be going. By now, I have to imagine that Shogo, Qrow and Oscar have returned from their own mission to solicit help from that General Ironwood fellow from the previous world."

"Izuku," Sojiro continued, "I'm now going to try and bring you up to speed as best I can about the previous world we visited. Mitsuko needs to hear this as well, considering she was not here during that visit. Let us go to our headquarters while discussing this."

"Understood," Izuku nodded.

And so, the trio began running across the golden path towards the Travelers' headquarters. Along the way, Sojiro explained everything that had happened in Remnant and what they were currently trying to accomplish.

Admittedly, Izuku was mesmerized at how different this world was from his. He had honestly expected there to be some similarities. But that world and his were so different from each other. He honestly did not know where to begin in listing its differences.

Soon, the trio entered the golden building. "Welcome to your new home for the time being, Izuku." Sojiro told him. "I hope it's to your liking."

"Of course it is, sir." Izuku promised. "I am not picky, by any means."

"So anyway," Izuku continued, "where are these other people you gathered from the world you had visited before. I should probably introduce myself and-"

"WHAGH!" A girl's voice shrieked as a large red mass was suddenly flung in out of nowhere.

"Eh? GYAGH!" Izuku screamed in surprise as the red mass careened right into him, much to the comical surprise of Sojiro and Mitsuko

"Izuku, are you okay?!" Mitsuko frantically inquired.

"I see Ruby is already deep in her training." Sojiro noted. "Either that or she got her hands on some sugar and we're seeing the result."

Izuku groaned in pain from the mass that had rammed him out of nowhere. His face was completely covered by...something. "What...what...the…" he muttered, in a daze, reaching up to move away whatever it was that was obstructing his face.

Then, his hand sunk into something firm but soft and springy. "What is this?" Izuku wondered out loud as he continued to squeeze it. "It's...soft."

On top of Izuku Midoriya, Ruby Rose turned as red as her namesake as she gazed down at the young man unknowingly squeezing her...rosebuds. Shrieking in horror and embarrassment, Ruby freed herself from Izuku's grip and delivered a powerful slap that sent Izuku flying away from her.

Sojiro and Mitsuko meanwhile watched in utter disbelief as Izuku unknowingly ruined his first impression with his new friends.

Then, as if the gods themselves had some sort of personal grudge against Izuku, Yang Xiao Long began calling out for her half-sister, hearing her shriek. "Ruby? Ruby what's wrong! Are we being attacked?"

Yang, along with Blake Belladonna and Weiss Schnee, came rushing in to see the floored Izuku with a red handprint on his face. "Who's the new guy?" Blake wondered out loud.

"Ruby, are you…" Yang began before trailing off, noticing that Ruby was frantically holding her arms over her chest.

Izuku managed to regain his senses and the first thing he saw was the embarrassed Ruby in the aforementioned position. He then looked at his hand and his eyes widened, immediately realizing what he had done. "Oh no…" He whimpered.

Yang looked at Ruby and the position she was in. Then she looked at Izuku, the young man with the red handprint on his cheek. Yang then put two and two together and turned furiously red, eyes and all. Her hair burst into flames and she trained Ember Celica right on Izuku. "You're dead, pervert!" She yelled.

At that moment, Izuku's survival instinct sprung into action. He saw Yang charging towards him and screamed in terror. "WAIT! WAIT! WAIT!" He frantically yelled. "It was an accident, I swear!"

Yang ignored Izuku's pleas and continued charging towards him. Izuku then instinctively activated One For All at 20%. He frantically leapt above Yang's first punch. Ruby, Weiss and Blake all gasped in disbelief at how speedily and easily Izuku had avoided Yang's assault. "Whoa…" Weiss muttered.

"What was that?" Blake added.

"I didn't touch her on purpose!" Izuku tried to placate Yang once more after landing. "It was all an accident!"

"All perverts who touch my little sister MUST DIE!" Yang screamed, clearly not listening to reason.

At that moment, several of the other residents of the Travelers' headquarters arrived on the scene. "What in the world is all the ruckus here?" Shuya frantically asked. He then noticed Sojiro. "Sir, you were gone for awhile and the minute you come back, this place devolves into chaos!"

Shuya was not reacting to Mitsuko being with Sojiro. Noriko had filled him in earlier. Yang roared, throwing haymaker after haymaker at Izuku with Ember Celica's help. Izuku avoided each of her attacks with ease thanks to One For All's power. Izuku knew he could fight back and possibly end this. But this was all just one big misunderstanding.

Then, much to Izuku's relief, Sojiro suddenly stepped in, grabbing Yang by the wrist and stopping her dead in her tracks. "That's quite enough, Yang." He said sternly. "If you took the time to listen, you would know that what had happened between Izuku and Ruby was nothing but an accident."

"And Ruby, as embarrassing as that was for you, I advise you to snap out of it before an innocent young man gets crushed into paste over a harmless misunderstanding." Sojiro continued, addressing Ruby now.

"I'm ruined," Ruby whimpered, "I'll never be a bride now."

Sojiro sweat-dropped at Ruby's antics and sighed, turning his attention to Shuya. "Perhaps make some tea, Shuya." He suggested. "I've found a nice cup of tea does wonders in smoothing things over."

Shuya nodded and frantically ran off to make some tea. Several minutes later, the rapidly growing group of allied warriors was sitting down, enjoying their tea. Here, Izuku was allowed to tell the full story of what happened, and why he accidentally got a feel of Ruby's chest.

Needless to say, Yang was no longer angry at Izuku. In fact, she found the situation utterly hilarious, as evidenced by her jovial belly laugh. "Oh man," she managed, wiping tears from her eyes from her laughing so hard, "okay, now that's actually pretty damn funny."

"Y-Yang!" Ruby stuttered in betrayal.

Yang ignored Ruby's plight and gave the still nervous Izuku a big smile. "Sorry about that, Green." She told him. "Just can't help the big sister instincts, ya know."

"Er...right." Izuku muttered before clearing his throat. "Anyway, since it seems like we're going to be working closely together from now on, I hope we can all get along and...avoid similar incidents."

Sojiro chuckled. Indeed, just as predicted, a nice cup of tea always calms things down. He noticed that Ruby and Izuku had finished their tea. "I'm glad we've all got the pleasantries out of the way," he began, "but I'm afraid we can't sit around for too long."

"Indeed, while I think this tea has done wonders for the group dynamic, we are still facing a very dangerous situation." Mitsuko sighed, a bit put off that Sojiro would suggest tea of all times.

"The Cult is one step ahead of us." Sojiro bluntly told the group. "It wouldn't surprise me if they were already making their move on other worlds like they have done for yours."

"So what then? What can we do if they're already several steps ahead of us?" Shuya wondered.

"We catch up, it's that simple." Sojiro turned to Izuku. "Izuku, I would like you to join Noriko and me on our next excursion to a new world."

"What? Really?" Izuku gasped. "But...shouldn't I get acclimated with the rest of the group?"

"You'll have plenty of time to do that." Sojiro promised. "But, I also promised All Might that I would train you in his stead for the time being. I can't promise to be the most hands-on mentor. But I can get you in the right direction."

"Wait, what?!" Ruby looked betrayed. "But when I asked to come with you, you said I couldn't come!"

"I know what I said." Sojiro acknowledged with a grim look on his face before giving the adorable reaper a smile. "And what I'm saying now, is that I'd like the both of you to accompany me."

"What?" Ruby gasped in surprise. "You mean it, Grandmaster?"

Sojiro nodded. "As a teacher, I cannot play favorites. We can't all go, smaller groups move quicker and larger groups might be interpreted as an invading force. But, I can at least bring you and Izuku along. Maria can only help you with your eyes, but I can help you improve your physical prowess...if that is what you wish."

"I would love to!" Ruby exclaimed. "It'd be an honor to learn under a grandmaster!"

Maria Calavera heaved a sigh. "Well, I did teach you the basics." She acknowledged. "But Ruby, don't expect to 'laser-beam' monsters with your eyes right off the bat. Just focus on the meditation sessions I showed you yesterday. Understand?"

"Oh of course!" Ruby excitedly nodded. "I know we didn't work together much, but thank you for your help all the same, Ma'am."

Maria smiled slightly and nodded. "You're very welcome, child."

"Okay," Ruby excitedly got to her feet, "so we're leaving now, right?"

Sojiro nodded. "Noriko," he addressed the team medic and his personal nurse, "I hope you don't mind going back into the field already."

"Not at all, Grandmaster." Noriko bowed.

"Mitsuko," Sojiro addressed his fellow teacher, "can I trust you to act as a liaison between us and Izuku's world? You'll be working closely with All Might on that."

"Of course." Mitsuko nodded.

"Shuya, I need you to hold down the fort once more." Sojiro told him, making the bespectacled Watcher nod.

"Qrow, Oscar, I'm afraid you two will have to save your full report for later. But can you at least confirm whether we have General Ironwood on our side?"

"We do, Gramps." Qrow responded.

"Good, and Shogo," the legend in his own mind perked up upon hearing his name, "what do you say? Up for a new excursion?"

"Of course!" Shogo declared, leaping onto the table and posing dramatically. "Shogo, the Hero of Legend, has been waiting for this opportunity!"

"He really hasn't changed a bit." Mitsuko gasped in realization.

"Shogo you moron, get off the table!" Noriko snapped.

Shogo eeped and leapt from the table back into his seat. "So, I take it you are all ready to leave right now?" Sojiro asked.

"Yes, Grandmaster." The four people who would be accompanying Sojiro responded.

"Very good," Sojiro nodded, "then let us go. The sooner we get there, the sooner we can help the next world with whatever problems they are having."

In this very world, in the middle of a field, a lone swordsman was swinging a massive blade. He was a short little man with spiky hair and black robes with the mark of a bull's head on them. A small bird flew up to him before transforming into a petite girl.

"So this is where you were," she noted, "Asta."

The boy named Asta responded. "Don't be so surprised, Nero." He said, completely serious. "You've been perched on my head for a long time now. Is it really so surprising to see me training?"

Nero, or Secre Swallowtail, as she was really called, sighed, knowing what was driving Asta so much. "I know you're worried about Patolli and the others, but you know you can't be focused solely on them."

"The hell I can't!" Asta yelled. "They're my friends!"

"Asta," Secre said in a tone that left no room for arguments, "The Wizard King has stalled things as best he can by using their disappearance as the 'escaped criminals' as he's calling it. But soon there will be no getting around it."

Asta's face fell at Secre's next sentence. "Your trial for being a 'demon' starts soon."

 **A.N: NGL, Got super emotional writing this chapter, especially since it follows up All Might's big heart to heart with Mama Midoriya. So, for everyone who's disappointed Class 1A didn't follow, think about it, Mama Midoriya got the chance to okay her son going and Sojiro has no time to wait for everyone else's permission. That's why I put it off.**

 **And now, by popular demand, Black Clover is up next. And, this time, Ruby and Izuku are following. Hope everyone enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. This is personally my favorite of my three new chapters.**


	13. Chapter 13: Already Too Late?

**A big, big announcement today. It is with great jubilation that after months of editing and proofreading (with help from my good friend and close writing confidant, Ryuzaki 007), that I am pleased to announce that Book I of Age of Heroes, The Hero and the Student will be self-published onto Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing during the month of December. All I have to do now is design a cover and it will all be ready to go. Once it is published, I will post another announcement on each of my major stories to let everyone know.**

 **To everyone who has waited patiently for the longest time, your patience will soon be rewarded. And a big thank you to everyone who has supported me through this, it truly means a lot. If you enjoy my Fanfiction writing, I highly recommend you give my first original work a read, it's my love letter to anime in the form of the fantasy genre. So, let's now commence the next chapter of this tale.**

 **Chapter 13: Already Too Late?**

Ruby gave a look of confusion as the quintet arrived in the brand new world. It was a green prairie, lush and beautiful. "Umm...okay, I know we ended up in the right place...but are we sure we ended up in the _right_ place?"

"Ruby, we can't very well just appear in the middle of a civilized area." Sojiro reminded her as the rest of the group took in their surroundings. "We'd frighten everyone and completely defeat the purpose of trying to gather allies for the fight."

Izuku gazed at his current apparel. He had thankfully procured his hero costume before they had left his world after calling in a favor with Tsukauchi to return to UA and acquire it before taking them to say goodbye to his classmates. "We're probably going to scare them regardless." He noted. "I mean, there is no way I'm dressed normally for this world."

Ruby gazed at Izuku and her eyes widened. Stars replaced her pupils as she swarmed Izuku. "Whoa, how am I just now noticing that cool hero costume?!" She squealed.

"E-eh?" Izuku blushed at Ruby's close proximity. "You...you like hero stuff?"

"Do I?!" Ruby excitedly exclaimed as she bounced around, taking in Izuku's entire appearance. "I've loved hero stuff ever since I was a little girl! But we call them Huntsmen in our world! Yang used to read stories to me about heroes when we were kids. Then, when I could read on my own, I filled like three bookshelves with comics and books and movies, anything hero-related I could get my hands on!"

Izuku could not help but smile, immediately finding it easier to talk to Ruby, in spite of their awkward first encounter. "That's awesome," he said, "I really like hero stuff too. I'm...actually training to be a hero in my world."

"AWESOME!" Ruby squealed. "Your world actually has _superhero_ as a job title?!"

"Y-yeah," Izuku nodded, "but enough about me, what about you? Are you training to be a Huntsman in your world?"

Ruby's face fell, much to Izuku's surprise. He thought nothing could hope to bring her down. "I was." She sadly said. "Then...well, things went wrong. Really wrong."

Sojiro, noticing that Ruby clearly did not want to talk about what happened, stepped up, clapping his hands together. "Since we had to land somewhere we wouldn't be seen, we need to move quickly." He told them, turning to Shogo. "Shogo, do you see any residential areas where we can get directions?"

Shogo immediately pointed ahead. "Look over yonder!" He said grandly. "A small town just ahead! If we hurry, we can be there in under an hour."

"Did...did he really just say 'yonder'?" Izuku sweat-dropped in disbelief.

"Just ignore him." Noriko heaved a tired sigh, already not looking forward to this excursion. "He's been like this since our days at the academy. Ruby, you already know this, Izuku, you'll...hopefully get used to it, but Shogo has always fancied himself a hero of legend...when in reality he's just a legend in his own mind."

"I...see…" Izuku muttered uncomfortably.

"Okay then," Sojiro said, "that's where we go first. Follow me, everyone."

As the quintet moved towards the small town, Izuku and Ruby took in their surroundings together. "This place...seems surprisingly peaceful. Weren't we expecting the Cult to already be here?" Ruby wondered.

"Things were quiet before they showed up in my world." Izuku told her. "They're probably biding their time at this point."

"We need to consider all possibilities while we track down whoever the world leaders in this world are." Sojiro told them. "Now come on, we'll find the location we need in that village."

And so, the quintet quickly reached the town. They immediately drew a curious crowd, who were staring particularly at Izuku's clothes. Izuku blushed in embarrassment from all this attention. "I really shouldn't have worn my hero costume...but it helps with my Quirk. I need it if we're going to get into anymore fights" He lamented.

Sojiro stepped forward in front of Izuku. "We mean you no harm." Sojiro promised. "My friends and I are travelers in need of directions. Could you please point us in the direction of the capital of these lands?"

This made the townsfolk whisper among themselves. "Umm, we can." A man stepped forward. "But, honestly, I don't know if you want to go to the capital right now."

"I can assure you, we do." Sojiro promised. "So, could you please point us in the direction of the capital?"

The man pointed in the direction of the capital, the quintet looked and their eyes widened when they stared at a massive mountain with a walled off city at the very top. "Wow...you would think we'd have noticed that sooner." Noriko sighed, face-palming at the group's denseness.

"SO COOL!" Shogo, Ruby and Izuku exclaimed in unison.

"Whoa, so we're in some sort of medieval world!" Izuku giddily squealed.

"Amazing! Other worlds are truly astounding!" Shogo added.

Izuku and Shogo were both smacked across the head by an angry Noriko. "Idiots, don't give away that we're from different worlds!" She hissed.

"I see." Sojiro nodded before gazing at the man who had answered his question. "Out of curiosity, why wouldn't we want to go to the capital right now?"

"Wow...you mean you really don't know?" The man looked at Sojiro in confusion. "Clover Kingdom was attacked just a short time ago. Our entire kingdom was almost completely destroyed."

This made the five new arrivals pale in horror. Were they already too late? "But, thankfully it's over." The man responded. "Apparently they're holding a trial for the one responsible today. Justice will be swift for sure, with the Magic Parliament on the job."

"Wait...what?" Noriko was surprised at hearing this. "What the hell?"

"What in the world is going on?" Ruby muttered to herself.

"A demon, of all things, was responsible." The man mused. "And it was one of the Magic Knights. One of our own turned out to be a monster. Who'd have thunk it?"

"A demon?" Ruby and Izuku both paled in disbelief and horror.

Sojiro held up his hands and silenced the two children. "How long is the journey to the capital? My associates and I have very important business in the capital."

"From here? I'd say you've got about a three hour walk. You should be there by lunchtime if you leave now."

"Thank you," Sojiro nodded before turning his attention to his allies, "you heard him, everyone, the sooner we get to the capital, the better."

The rest of the group nodded and began following Sojiro in the direction of the capital. "Hey!" The man called out. "If you don't mind me asking, what business have you lot in the capital? No offense, but you don't look like you belong in a place like that?"

"What do you mean?" Sojiro asked.

"Well, I mean, you do know that the capital is where nobles reside, right? You...you don't exactly look like you'd fit in a place like the capital." The man pointed out.

Sojiro, Noriko and Shogo were immediately put on edge by that description of the capital while Ruby and Izuku just looked on in confusion. Sojiro regained his composure and responded. "Well, we're not going there to talk to nobles."

"Umm...who are you trying to speak to, then?"

"The man in charge of your country's military." This made everyone fall silent in utter shock as the quintet walked away, leaving the town.

"Umm, okay, so I'm not the only one bothered by what that guy said about the capital, right?" Noriko asked curiously, still rather on edge about that news.

"I already don't like this." Shogo admitted, completely serious now. "There is always something of a divide between social elites and the normal folk, it's unavoidable. But what he said implied that it goes beyond the normal divide."

"Quiet down, you two, we need to focus on gathering allies. We can worry about how badly nobles treat the common folk after we befriend the leader of this country's military." Sojiro told them.

"Yeah, but sir, what if the leader is as bad as the nobles seem?" Noriko asked.

"He won't be." Sojiro said firmly and confidently.

"How do you know?" Shogo asked curiously.

"Because military leaders who idiotically worry about the social standings of their soldiers tend to have a very short career." Sojiro said calmly. "We should've asked how long the leader has been in charge. If this one is a twenty-year veteran, I can say for certain he doesn't care about social standings."

"Umm, can we please focus on the fact this kingdom was almost destroyed, too? Are we already too late, Grandmaster?" Ruby asked in worry.

"And what about this demon? He sounds pretty scary." Izuku pointed out.

"If he's behind bars, he's probably no longer a threat to us." Sojiro responded. "Still, if he was working with the Cult and the attack was them, then we should question him at some point."

"We're getting ahead of ourselves though." Sojiro told them. "Come, we need to reach the capital and fast. Noriko, you have lunches with you for when we get hungry, correct?"

"Come now, Grandmaster, as your nurse, being prepared is the one thing I need to be a hundred percent on top of." Noriko smiled.

With that, the group began walking, but not before thanking the man from town for his directions. "Excellent," Sojiro nodded before addressing Ruby and Izuku, "as for you two, I hope you like long conversations."

"Err...what do you mean by that, Grandmaster?" Ruby inquired.

"Well, I think now's a good time to begin training you two. And I think we'll begin by discussing where you are right now, and where we think we can take your skillset." Sojiro explained. "The first step to being an effective teacher is to begin by understanding where my students' strengths and weaknesses are."

"Oh, I see!" Izuku excitedly spoke up as the group crossed the town's county line, exiting completely. "You're trying to learn about us to learn about the secrets behind our world's powers, right? That way, you can find out what direction you can take our abilities."

"That's quite correct, Izuku." Sojiro nodded with a smile. "Ruby, do you understand where Izuku is coming from?"

"I think so." Ruby responded. "And you think...us telling you all we know about our abilities and our world's abilities will help you in training us?"

"It's a start." Sojiro replied. "Izuku, why don't you begin? You're something of a hero fanboy in your world, yes?"

Izuku blushed in embarrassment, much to Ruby's amusement. "Well, I mean yeah, I just...really admire them, you know."

Sojiro laughed. "Izuku, there's no need to be so embarrassed." He promised. "There is nothing wrong with hero worship. You just have to have the moral compass to know who the real heroes are. And don't worry, you do have that moral compass."

Izuku nodded. "Well, you already got a taste of what my world was capable of, but Ruby wasn't with you, so I guess I'll explain it as best I can." He said.

"In my world, 80% of the population has what are known as Quirks, superpowers for superheroes." Izuku began. "Quirks are nearly limitless in the kinds of abilities they provide. You could manipulate ice, fire, stretch your limbs, anything is possible."

"Whoa, seriously?" Ruby's eyes widened in disbelief. "That is so cool! Freely manipulating fire and ice are considered almost unheard of in my world! You usually need Dust or a special kind of Semblance to pull that off."

"Quirks come in three types," Izuku continued, "there are Emitter-type Quirks, that allow users to either release certain substances or alter materials around them in some way. Kacchan's Explosion, for example, allows him to secrete sweat and then ignite it at will into an explosion."

"That's…kinda gross actually." Noriko muttered.

"It's effective though." Izuku noted. "Kacchan is incredibly strong and skilled."

"Anyway, the second type of Quirks are known as Transformation-type Quirks." Izuku got back on track. "These are Quirks that allow the user to take on a temporary alteration of some kind. One of the most well-known examples is the hero Edgeshot's Foldabody, which allows him to fold himself, altering his bodily structure."

"And then there's the final type, Mutant-type Quirks." Izuku continued. "These Quirks can have a wide variety of features and abilities depending on the individual. Generally, Mutant-type Quirks are associated with the user's physicality."

"Oh, like the Faunus." Ruby spoke up once more.

"Faunus?" Izuku looked at Ruby in confusion.

"People with animal-like features in my world. My friend, Blake, is one of them." Ruby gasped, realizing that because of their awkward first encounter, she never properly introduced Izuku to her friends. "Oh, sorry, Blake's that girl with the cat ears."

"Oh, her? Gosh, I guess I've gotten so used to people with Mutant-type Quirks, I barely noticed." Izuku laughed sheepishly.

"Really?" Ruby was surprised before sighing. "I wish so many people from our world had your attitude about people like Blake."

Ruby then got back on track. "So," she said, "what kind of Quirk do you have?"

"I have a better idea." Sojiro spoke up. "Ruby, what do you think Izuku's Quirk is categorized as?"

Ruby thought it over, remembering her brief glance at it when he was dodging Yang's fury. Now that she thought back, she could not help but be in awe at how fast Izuku seemed. He might actually be as fast as her. "Well, I want to say Transformation, since you took on some sort of 'super-state'." Ruby responded.

Izuku chuckled. "Good guess, Ruby, but that's incorrect, I'm afraid." He admitted. "My Quirk is an Emitter-type Quirk."

"It's called One For All," Izuku explained, "a Quirk I inherited from my master, All Might, the world's greatest hero. It allows me to access the strength that has been stockpiled by previous users for eight previous generations."

"That is...unbelievably cool." Once again, Ruby was left in awe.

Izuku laughed. "It is, isn't it?" He nodded in full agreement. "When using One For All, I gain a tremendous boost in strength and speed which I emit in bursts of power known as 'Smashes.' But, honestly, when I used to use it, I hurt myself real bad. Nowadays, I have to regulate the amount of power I emit to avoid hurting myself. These days, I can go up to 20%, but I can feel my bones creak when that happens. I call this technique: Full Cowling. Still, perhaps the fighting nowadays has fixed that."

"It's a possibility." Sojiro acknowledged. "Bodies evolve in response to high-stress situations. It's not unheard of to adapt and evolve on the fly, especially when it's do or die."

"Then we discovered another ability that only I've been able to truly wield." Izuku revealed. "Turns out, six of the previous One For All Users had other Quirks that are now mine."

"For real?!" Noriko gasped in disbelief.

"Yeah, it was a shock to me too." Izuku nodded. "And it almost got a lot of my friends hurt in the process. But, I've thankfully got it under control now."

"Right now, I only awakened one of the six Quirks though, a Quirk called Black Whip. It allows me to emit black tendrils." Izuku explained.

"Ooh, ooh, ooh, could you show me?" Ruby excitedly asked, bouncing around, Izuku.

Izuku blushed in embarrassment. "Well, er, since you're asking so nicely." He decided. He very rarely met someone with just as much passion for heroics as he did.

Izuku stopped in his tracks and held his right hand out. He felt One For All course through his body to 20% output as his body glowed with power. _Concentrate,_ He reminded himself, _concentrate. Let the power flow through you, and…_

Bloop. A small black tendril appeared from Izuku's wrist. Noriko blinked in surprise. "Eh...is that it?" She inquired curiously.

"Aww, it's so cute." Ruby squealed.

"Wh-what?!" Izuku exclaimed, gazing at the tiny black tendril. "What's going on? It was much bigger before!"

Sojiro laughed. "Izuku, you can't always be expected to perform on demand like that, especially since you're not in any real danger." He explained. "I take it when it performed the way it was meant to, you were in a fight with an enemy."

"Well, yeah." Izuku nodded. "It was the best thing I could come up with against that Skeleton-Cult-Guy Tenya and I went up against."

"The important thing, Izuku, is that you are able to perform well when it matters the most." Sojiro assured him. "Beyond that, you shouldn't be concerned about being able to impress people with your Quirk."

"Err...sorry, Izuku." Ruby sheepishly apologized. "I guess I shouldn't have begged you to show me your Quirk. The Grandmaster is right, powers aren't about showing off to people."

"Anyway," Sojiro spoke up, "thank you for explaining your Quirk and Quirks in general to me, Izuku. I think I have a good idea of how I should train you from here on out."

"Oh, and how do you plan to do that, Grandmaster?"

"Well, obviously we should focus on awakening your other five Quirks." Sojiro pointed out. "The more power we can give to you, the better. You could very well become a devastating weapon with seven different superpowers at your disposal."

"Not a weapon, Sir, a hero." Izuku shook his head. "I want to use this power for others. For the greater good. Not for me."

Sojiro chuckled and smiled at Izuku, impressed with the boy's pure heart. "You're right, I'm sorry, my boy." He said kindly. "Anyway, we need to focus on not only awakening your other Quirks, but we should also focus on trying to combine your Quirks."

Izuku gasped, remembering how All For One used that Ultimate Combination against All Might that night. "That...that's actually possible, Sir, I've seen it done."

"Very good," Sojiro nodded, "and above all else, let's continue increasing the output of One For All your body can handle. You said you can reach 20% at best?"

Izuku nodded. "In desperate times, I can tap into a hundred percent of One For All's power. But the results aren't pretty." He grimly admitted, pulling up his sleeve and revealing the scars of recklessly using One For All's power. Ruby and Noriko paled at the sight. "At best I've got about 2 or 3 full-powered Smashes before I ruin my arms forever."

Noriko frowned. "Izuku," she chided, "you should've told me your arms were weak from overuse of your Quirk. I could've provided some treatment, you know."

"Really?" Izuku looked up at Noriko in hope.

"I can't make any promises, but I can try. There's always a chance the treatment doesn't take. Unless of course you're Lord Hakuai. His medical skills are unmatched throughout the universe." Noriko explained.

Izuku nodded. "But this does actually point out the core weakness of Quirks. They all come with some sort of limit. Upset stomachs, overheating, frostbite, broken limbs, you could even accidentally turn your own Quirk's power on yourself." Izuku explained. "You need to be aware of your Quirk's limits...otherwise you're going to have a short career as a hero at best...and a short lifespan at worst."

"But, enough about Quirks, let's talk about your world now, Ruby." Izuku smiled in excitement. "I really want to know what power is in your world."

Ruby fell silent at this. A part of her did not want to talk about the power in her world, because it inevitably meant talking about the horrors her world also dealt with. Remembering that this was necessary for Sojiro to help her, and deciding that Izuku was nice enough to be empathetic about Remnant's situation, Ruby decided to open up.

"Oh boy, where do I begin." She muttered. "I guess I'll start with the basics."

"In my world, a world called Remnant, our power comes from an energy that resides in our soul known as Aura." Ruby began. "Anyone with a soul is capable of using it, but that doesn't mean everyone can use it. It has to be unlocked through either extensive training or through someone with Aura unlocking your Aura. It has a wide variety of uses. It enhances our offensives capabilities, it creates an armor for us to use as defense, provide a sensory boost, and can even heal minor injuries."

Ruby then revealed Crescent Rose. "We use the offensive capabilities of Aura to enhance our combat specs, using our weapons as something of a conduit."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Izuku leapt into the air in shock. "That was a scythe?!"

"Yep," Ruby's inner weapons geek could not resist. "This is my baby, Crescent Rose."

"Unreal," Izuku muttered, "how are you able to swing that thing around so easily?"

Ruby laughed and flexed. "A lot of physical training, Izuku." She responded. "I'm just awesome like that. The bee's knees, as Yang would say."

"And humble, too." Noriko joked.

"Please, continue, Ruby." Sojiro gently ordered.

"Er, right." Ruby got back on track. "Anyway, people with Aura are also able to use what's known as Dust. Dust is a naturally occurring, crystallized energy propellant triggered by Aura. Dust comes in many different colors that use different kinds of abilities, like fire, ice, electricity, even gravity."

"Wait, so you've basically crystallized elements and other kinds of powers?" Izuku looked at Ruby in shock before adding to himself. "You know, they actually remind me of Materia from the Final Fantasy series."

Ruby nodded. "And finally, there are Semblances. These are probably the closest thing there is to Quirks in your world." She explained. "A Semblance is the manifestation of one's innate and personal power as an ability unique to each individual, with the effects varying greatly from user to user. They're more tangible projections of our Aura."

"Which means that you can only use them as long as you have Aura, yes?" Sojiro inquired.

"Yeah, Aura is a finite source that needs to be recharged from time to time." Ruby admitted. "Taking damage depletes Aura, as does using our Semblance."

"So, what kind of Semblance do you use, Ruby?" Izuku asked curiously.

Ruby smiled and began speeding around Izuku, leaving a trail of rose petals behind her. Izuku's eyes widened in awe. Ruby came to a stop in front of him. "Petal Burst," she replied, "I can move at super speed."

"OH!" Izuku exclaimed with stars in his eyes. "You're just like the now-retired Sprinting Hero: Speed of Light! The fastest hero of all time! His speed may have very well surpassed All Might!"

Ruby laughed in embarrassment. "Well, I don't know if I'm _that_ fast," she admitted, "I've...definitely gotten grabbed in the middle of a Petal Burst."

Ruby's face then fell. "Anyway, all of these powers are used to fight the monsters that hunt us across Remnant...the Grimm."

"Grimm?' Izuku raised an eyebrow. "What are those?"

"Monsters of pure darkness and malice." Ruby replied. "They're attracted to negative emotions, and have an inherent desire to kill and destroy."

"God," Izuku muttered in shock, "and you're supposed to fight those things?"

Ruby nodded grimly. "It's...well, it's for the sake of the people who can't fight for themselves." She explained. "This is what I've wanted to do ever since I was a little girl. I want to protect people who can't fight. I want to be a hero just like the ones I read about."

Izuku noticed Ruby's drop in mood and smiled. "I'm the same way." He told her.

"Eh?"

"Ruby, ever since I was a kid, I wanted to be a hero too, just like All Might." Izuku told her. "From the moment I saw him saving people for the first time, I knew I wanted to be just like him...or at least walk my own path and become a hero I can be proud of, and part of that means being as good or better than All Might."

Ruby looked at Izuku, who's smile became more reassuring. "I can't pretend that I have to struggle to survive against monsters like the Grimm like you do." Izuku admitted. "But I can tell you that, from one person striving to be a hero to another, I truly admire you."

"Because you're striving for the same goal I am. And you know, now I think we've got a unique chance to try and realize our goals together." Izuku then blushed in embarrassment. "Er...that probably sounded like a confession, didn't it? It wasn't supposed to. Also, you don't have to if you don't want to."

Ruby laughed at how dorky Izuku was. "I'd like that, Izuku." She said. "Something about you...it would be nice, getting to grow with someone who shares my dream."

"Not to cut in on the moment," Sojiro said, "but I've had a chance to think about everything you've told me, Ruby."

"And what do you have to say, Grandmaster?" Ruby asked.

"For starters, we need to improve your Aura. Is it possible to increase your overall amount of Aura through training?" Sojiro inquired.

"Yes." Ruby responded.

"Okay, good." Sojiro nodded. "And, I think we need to work on you using multiple applications for Aura, like offense. Perhaps using Aura to increase your physical strength, and throw a few more punches and kicks in battle."

"That's...more Yang's speed." Ruby responded.

"And if you lose your Crescent Rose?" Sojiro inquired.

"...Fair enough." Ruby rubbed her head sheepishly.

"And, let's see if we can get your Semblance to evolve as well." Sojiro noted. "And, I do believe there is one more ability we should work on."

"Oh, right, my eyes!" Ruby exclaimed. "Err, sorry, Izuku, I forgot one more ability. My eyes are special, see. They can shoot laser beams."

Izuku's mouth dropped open. Ruby was transforming into a comic book superhero before his very eyes and he loved it. "It's a hereditary ability passed down by my mom." Ruby explained. "I originally thought it was simply the Grimm's worst enemy, a response to an innate desire to preserve life. The power of my eyes can annihilate a Grimm's very existence, as they are the manifestation of destruction."

"However, we recently discovered that they can also annihilate attacks thrown at us as well." Ruby added. "We wouldn't have gotten away from a Cardinal that attacked us otherwise."

Ruby then turned to Sojiro. "Grandmaster, Maria actually told me where this power came from." She revealed. "She noticed that during that 'episode' involving the Relic of Knowledge, she saw the God of Light use similar powers to destroy the Grimm. The power was his gift."

Sojiro's eyes widened in realization. "So it's a gift from the God of Light. Interesting…"

"Did I miss something?" Izuku whispered to Noriko.

"You have no idea." Was Noriko's response, still disturbed by _that_ revelation.

"Well, if that's the case, I think I now have a theory." Sojiro admitted.

"What is it, Grandmaster?" Ruby asked curiously.

"If the power of the Silver Eyes are meant to be the antithesis to a manifestation of destruction, perhaps it's possible that the power of your eyes evolved to acting as a defense against all sorts of hostility." Sojiro mused.

"What do you mean?" Ruby was confused.

"When you used your eyes to push against that Cardinal's sand-based attack, I think the reason it worked was because of the hostile intent behind it." Sojiro explained. "Perhaps it's possible that your powers could act as a defense against all desires to kill and destroy."

"Oh, I get it!" Izuku spoke up. "Ruby's eye-power-thing is an emotion-based power that also clashes with negative emotions like desires to kill and destroy."

Ruby hummed in wonder. "That sounds strange...but I guess that makes sense. But still, how could my powers have evolved like that?" She wondered.

"As I mentioned before, it's because you're now interacting with other worlds." Sojiro replied. "It's long been theorized by scientists in my world, considering how there are so many worlds out there that have similar energies, that if worlds were to interact, they could see powers evolve and adapt in response."

"That's...pretty fascinating, actually." Ruby acknowledged.

"No kidding." Izuku added.

"Hey, Grandmaster," Noriko spoke up, "I'd hate to interrupt, but there's something I'm sensing. It's all around us."

"Is it a Reiki-signature?" Sojiro was immediately on guard.

"No, it's just...this world is vastly different from the last two." Noriko replied. "I can sense...some kind of energy that's almost infused with the nature around us."

"I don't sense anything like that." Izuku admitted.

"I am." Ruby said, after a moment of silence. "I think it's because of my Aura...but Ren's better at it than I am. It's faint though, I'm not the best at it. It's strange though, it's somewhat familiar. Like...I've only sensed this one other time before."

Ruby's eyes widened. "Wait, this feeling, it's just like when I'm around Cinder!" She muttered in fright. "This...I think this might be magic!"

"Magic?" Izuku looked at Ruby in surprise. "You mean like wizards and stuff?"

Sojiro hummed thoughtfully at this. "Okay," he said, "we'll find out all we need to know when we reach the capital." He told them. "Let's focus on walking for now. Ruby, Izuku, why don't you two take this opportunity to bond a bit more? You two seem to have a lot in common."

Izuku immediately got nervous. "Oh, talk to a girl...for about three hours. Y-yeah, I can totally pull that off." He muttered. "I can do this...I talk to Ochaco a lot, so I've gotten plenty of practice right?"

Ruby seemed oblivious to how nervous Izuku seemed and gave him a reassuring smile. "You know, I think the Grandmaster is right. We do seem to have a lot in common, Izuku." She noted. "Hey, I know, why don't we talk more about hero stuff?"

Izuku's eyes lit up. A girl that wants to do nothing but talk hero stuff? If Izuku was not so focused on his hero work and were a hopeless romantic, he may have believed he had found his dream girl. "Yes!" He squealed. "Nothing would make me happier than to just talk hero stuff!"

"Yes, hero stuff!" Shogo suddenly cut in. "Please, allow me to undertake in such glorious conversations as well-"

"NO!" Shogo yelped as Noriko suddenly yanked on his ear, pulling him away from the duo. "You are staying close to me so that just in case the bad guys jump out, you're ready to fight and are not distracted by that kind of conversation!"

"Owowowow! Noriko, stop it! My ears are my one weakness!" Shogo screamed in pain.

"I know, that's the point!" Noriko hissed in anger.

Sojiro chuckled at the behavior of his allies. He then took another look at the castle that was the capital city of this new land. _Everything about this seems different than before._ He mused. _Not only is it far too quiet when the Cult is supposed to be one step ahead of us...but it seems they've already gone through some sort of crisis. And then there's the clear divide between nobles and commoners that Shogo and Noriko picked out from that single conversation with that man from town._

 _I don't like this...any of this, but we can't lose focus on the mission, and regardless of any personal disagreements I may have with the people of this world, they are still innocent. They do not deserve to be killed by the Cult._

A few hours later, elsewhere in this land that was the Clover Kingdom, the no-magic Magic Knight known as Asta remained surprisingly impassive as handcuffs were slapped on both him and Secre Swallowtail.

Asta had began his day like any other, with a little bit of morning training. However, instead of returning to the headquarters of the Black Bulls the Magic Knights Squad he belonged to, Asta had calmly sat with Secre, awaiting for that weirdo judge and his fellow mages to come and take the both of them to the their trial.

"Asta," Secre spoke up, "are you sure it was wise to handle it this way? Your friends at the Black Bulls, they…"

"Nero," even after all this time, Asta could not stop himself from calling Secre by the name that was given to her when she was in the form of that Anti-Magic Bird, "I...don't want everyone to see this."

"...I understand."

Damnatio Kira, the 'weirdo judge' that put Asta and Secre on guard, gave Asta a very condescending gaze. "A shame that 'candor' you show will be unrequited." He told Asta. "Demons are a very deceptive bunch by nature, and once your 'friends' find out about your deception, they will want nothing to do with you."

Asta glared at Damnatio instinctively. "You don't know my friends."

Damnatio smirked. "I'd be careful if I were you, boy. If you're not cooperative, you may find justice won't be in your favor."

Asta almost snapped at Damnatio once more, only to have his foot stomped on by Secre. "Don't, Asta, we need to be cooperative if we want any hope of getting through this."

Asta nodded in understanding. Damnatio simply shook his head. "Hope...and what right do demons have to hope?" He mused. "The scales of justice...will never be in your favor."

This made both Asta and Secre fall silent. "Now then, let us take you two through the capital. The people must know that the perpetrators of the attacks on our fair kingdom...are about to be prosecuted." Damnatio said with a hint of sadism in his voice.

This made Secre narrow her eyes in fury. _Has the kingdom Lord Lemiel sacrificed everything to protect really degraded to this point?_

They were now in the streets of the capital. In an odd twist of fate, this was the moment where Sojiro and his group arrived as well. They all stopped and gazed at the procession that was leading Asta and Secre through the streets. "Who are they?" Ruby wondered.

"You think...one of them is the demon responsible for whatever it was that happened to this place?" Izuku offered.

"That can't be. He's just a kid." Noriko muttered in disbelief.

Immediately, the five newcomers, along with Asta and Secre, could hear the whispers of the nobles who saw them. "So those are the demons responsible?"

"What a bunch of freaks. I can't believe we're even having a trial. We should just have them executed and get it over with."

"Isn't that boy the one with no magic from the Black Bulls? That commoner? Bah, of course he turned out to be a demon. Not only is he with that squad of rejects, but he's also nothing but a filthy commoner. I bet his squad is filled with demons too."

"What the hell?" Izuku's eyes widened in disbelief.

"They don't seriously think that, do they?" Ruby added.

Sojiro took a deep breath, desperately trying to calm himself. _Yeah, there is definitely something wrong with this place._ He thought.

"Come on, let's keep moving." Sojiro said calmly.

"Grandmaster…" Noriko and Shogo both muttered, seeing how tense their superior was becoming. They knew Sojiro desperately wanted to speak up, but he could not, because the mission was to win allies.

Then, much to their surprise, one of the men who had been leading Asta and Secre through the capital streets, appeared in front of them. Shogo and Noriko were immediately on guard while Ruby and Izuku gazed at him in disbelief. _Fast!_ They all thought while Sojiro frowned at him.

"Can I help you?" He asked calmly.

Damnatio Kira eyed Sojiro up and down. "That attire is...odd." He noted. "Are you foreigners?"

"We are." Sojiro nodded. "And?"

"You'll have to forgive me, after the attack on our fair kingdom, we're rather on edge." Damnatio clearly did not mean that apology.

Damnatio then gestured to Asta and Secre. "Take those two devilish traitors for example. They were considered one of our own...but then they turned out to be conspirators attempting to bring about Clover Kingdom's destruction. Thankfully, justice will be swift."

"If I may," Sojiro spoke up, "both of those individuals look utterly harmless."

Damnatio chuckled condescendingly. "Looks can be deceiving." He said.

"I couldn't agree more." Sojiro said, subtly letting Damnatio know that he saw right through the mage's nonsense.

Damnatio caught onto this and frowned. "I advise you to keep quiet." He said. "This is the Clover Kingdom's business. Baseborn foreigners such as yourselves should stay out of it."

Shogo and Noriko nearly snapped upon hearing such talk while Izuku and Ruby gazed at Damnatio in utter disbelief. "I strongly disagree," Sojiro shook his head, "if a foreigner saw someone being tried and executed unjustly, he might spread the word to his own country and soon word might get out that this kingdom might not be the best to do business with, or even form military connections with. You may not think this is any of our business, good sir, but from my point of view, this could very well become my business."

Damnatio scoffed. "Like your opinion carries any weight. I don't know where you come from, but do you honestly think your word will carry weight with your king? The opinions of the lowborn will always be outweighed by those of high lineage. The scales of justice will never be in your favor. So once again, I advise you to stay quiet and drop this matter altogether."

"Chairman Kira!" One of Damnatio's subordinates appeared by his side. "Are you coming? The escort is continuing on, sir."

"Yes, of course, I was simply doing my duty as a bringer of justice by making sure these foreigners were of no threat." Damnatio responded.

"And your conclusion?"

Damnatio scoffed at all five. "They are no threat. Just a bunch of foreigners who think they have a say in our kingdom's business."

With that, Damnatio and his subordinate vanished. Shogo then completely snapped. "Who does he think he is?!" He screamed. "The Grandmaster? A lowly baseborn who's opinion carries no weight? The Grandmaster is one of the greatest heroes our kingdom has ever known! He has no right to speak to him in such a manner!"

"I...I can't believe he'd flaunt such a twisted sense of justice in front of us like that." Ruby muttered.

"Someone like that doesn't care about justice at all." Izuku shook his head.

"Grandmaster," Noriko spoke up, "Sir, are you absolutely sure you want to continue? No one will blame you if you want to just move on. This is giving me no confidence in this nation's military leader's own personality."

Sojiro took a deep breath. "We keep moving forward." He said simply.

"What? After you were disrespected like that? Sir, I must protest! At least let me track that man down and defend your honor!" Shogo exclaimed.

"You will do no such thing, Shogo." Sojiro said firmly. "Listen to me, all of you. I don't doubt that this kingdom is filled with awful people. If our experiences so far are an indicator of how bad this country actually is, then our immediate thoughts will inevitably be to leave them in the hands of fate."

"However, we will not abandon our mission." Sojiro ordered. "I will not damn the innocents of this world over the actions of bastards like that. And until I've seen the leader of this country's army with my own two eyes, I will not pass judgement on him either. I will place my faith in the protectors of this land."

"Sir…" Shogo was still bothered by this.

"I will do this, because _our king_ , and Kaishi as well, would've done the same thing in my position." Sojiro told them. "Are you telling me, that as subjects of Menou, you would so boldly disregard the ideals of our kings?"

Shogo and Noriko both fell silent at this. Noriko then spoke up, heaving a sigh first. "I don't like it, but I can't ignore my Hippocratic Oath as a doctor. Abandoning these people, even if a bunch of them are awful...would just leave a bad taste in my mouth."

"I don't like it, but I will do it." Shogo promised. "I guess sometimes being a hero means saving the people who don't always deserve it."

"We'll put our faith in you too, Grandmaster." Ruby promised.

"Sir, we're with you." Izuku added.

Sojiro smiled, grateful for their loyalty and managing to avoid a conflict of interest. "Now, if we could just find where their leader is...perhaps we should try to get directions from someone a bit more pleasant, yes?"

"Now that I can agree with." Noriko muttered.

The quintet continued to walk through the capital. Ruby looked around in amazement, forgetting how uncomfortable she was with all of these elitist snobs. She noticed a few mages flying about on magic broomsticks. "This place is actually pretty cool." She acknowledged.

"No kidding, so this is what magic is capable of?" Izuku said in amazement.

Shogo suddenly stopped in place. "Eh, what's up Shogo?" Noriko asked curiously.

"The tears of a maiden! I must be off!" Shogo said grandly, charging ahead.

"HEY!" Noriko screeched. "If someone _is_ crying, a lunatic charging them isn't going to make them feel better you idiot!"

Sojiro looked ahead and saw just who Shogo was running towards. It was a short, voluptuous girl with vermillion hair, and she was indeed crying. In fact, she looked downright inconsolable. She was being comforted by a taller man with the same-colored hair. Considering the similarities, Sojiro assumed they were siblings.

"Fair maiden!" Shogo slid into the crying girl's view. "Please do not weep. A hero has arrived to help! Just tell me what brings you to tears and I, the great Shogo, hero of legend, will strive to make it all better."

The man who Sojiro thought was the girl's brother, immediately stepped protectively in front of her. "I don't know who you are, but your clear insanity, along with your close proximity to my little sister is _utterly hideous_." He growled.

Shogo was taken aback by the man's hostility. He honestly could not comprehend someone not appreciating his attempts at helping. Sojiro, at that moment, stepped in and saved the situation. "Forgive him, he means well." Sojiro assured the man. "I hope he didn't scare your sister."

The girl spoke up, shaking her head and weeping. "N-no, honestly I didn't even notice him." She said.

Noriko yanked on Shogo's ear. "What did I tell you, idiot?" She growled. "That wasn't going to help!"

"One weakness, Noriko! One weakness!" Shogo shrieked.

"Didn't even notice him?" The man sighed. "Mimosa, not only are tears rather ugly, but being so inconsolable that you become oblivious to your surroundings makes it even worse. Please, dear sister, stop crying. Your tears won't make things any better."

The girl known as Mimosa would not stop crying though. "I can't help it, Kirsch." She sobbed. "Asta...Asta's going to be punished for a crime he did not commit."

Kirsch's face fell at this. "Yes...I do suppose that the injustice of that is a rather ugly business. But still, don't lose hope, Sister. Perhaps the courts will…"

"Brother, Damnatio Kira is the man overseeing his trial." Mimosa reminded him. "The trial is…it's a sham, brother!"

Kirsch sighed. Once upon a time, he agreed with Damnatio's treatment of commoners. However, ever since the Royal Knight Selection Exams, where Kirsch had a chance to reexamine himself, he now could not help but look at Damnatio and be disgusted by the sheer hideousness of it all. And Asta was going to be the latest victim of it.

"The trial?" Sojiro raised a curious eyebrow. "You wouldn't happen to be discussing the procession from earlier, yes?"

"That is correct, good sir." Kirsch nodded. "The young man in handcuffs is a friend of my sister's."

"You have my sympathies, young lady." Sojiro said kindly.

"Thank you, but...those sympathies will mean nothing if Asta's punished for what happened. He's innocent. In fact, he is the hero in all of this, not the villain."

"He's the hero? Why would the hero be in chains?" Izuku was in disbelief at the very thought. To him, that was like putting All Might in handcuffs.

Kirsch sighed. "I fear Asta might be used as a scapegoat for what happened." He noted. "It's either that, or the Magic Knights are investigated. And if I know Damnatio Kira, he will definitely make sure Asta is made the scapegoat, since most Magic Knights are nobles like us."

"I see." Sojiro nodded. "Then you two are Magic Knights."

"You five are clearly foreigners if the robes did not give it away, so I will excuse your lack of knowledge." Kirsch promised.

"Allow me to introduce myself," Kirsch continued, "I am Kirsch Vermillion, of the noble Vermillion Family and Vice Captain of the Coral Peacock's Magic Knight squad."

Mimosa managed to calm herself enough to properly introduce herself as well. "I am Mimosa Vermillion," she said, "of the Roars of the Golden Dawn. I'm...sorry you had to meet me in such a state, I just can't…"

"Hey, you're crying for a friend." Izuku said kindly. "We shouldn't fault you for something like that. And we won't. We promise."

"Mimosa," Sojiro spoke up, "I don't wish to sound insensitive but I was wondering if you and your brother could help us. We are diplomats from far away that would wish to speak with the man who leads the Magic Knights about something urgent."

Shogo and Noriko looked at Sojiro in shock. Would they actually buy that lie? "Diplomats?" Kirsch looked the group up and down. "You're certainly not dressed the part."

"Deception is important until we reach our destination, that is something we practice for our own safety." Sojiro explained.

"...I suppose that makes sense." Kirsch acknowledged. "Even so, not just anyone can speak with the Wizard King."

"But we'll gladly point you to where he is." Mimosa finished before pointing ahead. "Do you see the castle? There's a big building just next door. That is the headquarters for the Magic Knights. You will find Lord Julius, the Wizard King, there."

"Now hold on a moment, Mimosa!" Kirsch exclaimed. "Not just anyone can see the Wizard King! Even diplomats!"

"Brother, they've come from a land far away, you heard them." Mimosa reminded him. "Anyway, if you just go that way, you'll reach there in no time. In fact, I'll gladly take you there. That way, you won't run into any more trouble. A member of the Vermillion Family should be able to get you past the guards without any trouble."

"Er...well, I suppose if my sister is escorting you I have to come along." Kirsch sighed. "But fair warning, if I discover you 'diplomats' pose a threat, I will have to deal out a beautiful punishment."

"Understood, Sir Kirsch." Sojiro acknowledged. "But I give you my word as both the leader of this group and as a man of high honor in my own homeland that I mean you no ill will. Now then, Mimosa, if you would be so kind as to lead the way."

Mimosa stepped out in front, with Kirsch soon following. He leaned down to his younger sister. "Don't think I don't see what you're doing, Sister." He whispered. "You're hoping to get these diplomats on Asta's side to save him from his trial. You can't just get diplomats involved in internal affairs."

"This is for Asta's sake, Brother, I don't care." Mimosa said resolutely. "And besides, while there's still much about politics I don't understand, but I do know that most diplomats would be disturbed at the prospect of allying with a nation that jails their heroes. It's injustice, and no one should stand for it."

Sojiro overheard this and chuckled, leaning in with a mischievous smile on his face. "You know, if you want us to help with your friend Asta that badly, all you have to do is ask." He told them, making them leap in surprise. "But I'm afraid that speaking with the Wizard King-this Lord Julius fellow-takes priority."

"Sir, I reiterate my belief that diplomats should not be involved with internal affairs." Kirsch tried to reason.

"Noted," Sojiro nodded, "but Sir Kirsch, your sister is right about one thing. Impressions are important and if this Asta is being tried and jailed unjustly, this may leave a bad impression on both myself and my people."

"...I understand." Kirsch conceded.

Sojiro sighed. "I apologize, I don't mean to make this sound like some sort of quid pro quo scenario, I'm simply the kind of man who cannot remain silent in the face of injustice. But, I can assure you, until I fully understand the situation with your friend, it will not affect my business with the Wizard King. I am a true professional in that regard."

"But, since you now have me curious," Sojiro continued, "Mimosa, would you be so kind as to tell me more about this Asta? You seem to think quite highly of him."

Mimosa's entire face lit up. "Oh, of course!" She exclaimed. "Asta is wonderful and kind, and he only thinks about others! Never about himself!"

And so, the group journeyed to the Magic Knights' headquarters, their time occupied by Mimosa's long monologue about how great Asta is.

Unbeknownst to the seven of them, however, they were being watched by several mages who had hidden their presence completely. Meanwhile, Damnatio Kira and his procession continued to lead Asta and Secre to the courthouse. Suddenly, one of those mages who had been watching the seven people journeying to the Magic Knights' headquarters appeared next to Damnatio. "Chairman Kira," he got the man's attention.

"What is it?" Damnatio inquired.

The man began to whisper into his ear. "Sir, those five foreigners seem to be traveling to the Magic Knights' headquarters, led by Mimosa and Kirsch Vermillion. The old man is now claiming they are diplomats."

Damnatio scowled. "What? And those two bought their story?"

"It seems so," the man replied, "from what we could gather, Lady Mimosa seems intent on currying favor with them to aid the demon."

"Bah, as if foreigners have any say in our justice." Damnatio rolled his eyes. "However, they clearly lied about their intent when they claimed to be diplomats. Send a team of Magic Parliament Security Mages to bring them in for questioning. That includes the Vermillion siblings."

"Yes sir." The mage disappeared from sight.

"Hey!" Asta suddenly called out. "What the hell was that all about?"

"Silence, Demon." Damnatio spat. "You have no right to question your betters. Speak again and I'll have you executed for speaking out of turn."

Asta let out an 'eep' and fell silent. Secre was on edge, however. She had excellent hearing and heard Damnatio's intents. He was going after Mimosa, a friend of Asta's. But she could not say anything yet, because then she would get them both killed on the spot. All she could do was pray that these 'diplomats' could handle themselves against.

Some time later, the five 'diplomats' and two Magic Knights arrived at the Magic Knights' headquarters. "And here we are," Mimosa said with a smile, her mood having significantly improved from talking about Asta the entire time, "Lord Julius should be at the top floor near the balcony there. He's most likely having a meeting with the Magic Knight Captains."

Kirsch heaved a sigh. He was still opposed to this, and frankly hoped he would not regret it. "State your business!" The two soldiers standing guard exclaimed.

"At ease," against his better judgement, Kirsch spoke up, "my sister and I were doing our beautiful duty as Magic Knights in escorting these five diplomats to our headquarters for a meeting with the Wizard King."

This made the guards look at each other. "Umm...we weren't really informed of any meetings at this hour." One pointed out. "All things considered, I think the Wizard King is in a meeting with the other Magic Knight Captains."

"Oh, that makes this easier. Speaking with the soldiers that serve directly below the Wizard King as well is perfect." Sojiro claimed.

"Er...perhaps we should check with the Wizard King to make sure you actually have an appointment with him?" The second guard suggested.

Mimosa frowned before stepping forward. "By order of Mimosa Vermillion of the Vermillion Family, you two are to let these diplomats pass." She said in the strongest voice she could muster.

"Wh-whoa, Mimosa!" Kirsch exclaimed in shock. He had never heard his sister take such a tone before.

"Are you really going to refuse a member of the Vermillion Family?" Mimosa demanded.

 _Kyah! I'm so sorry you two, I'll apologize properly later, but I need to make sure they see Lord Julius for Asta's sake!_ Mimosa frantically apologized inwardly.

"Err...no, of course not, Lady Mimosa. We'd never refuse someone of your noble stature." The first guard promised.

"Yeah, I'm sure it was just lost in the translation or something. Lord Julius does have a bad habit of letting paperwork get away from him. I feel so bad for Sir Marx." The second added.

 _The Wizard King sounds unbelievably irresponsible._ Noriko sweat-dropped.

"I'm afraid no meetings will be happening today." Everyone spun around as six mages dressed entirely in white appeared before them, brandishing grimoires before them.

"And who are these guys?" Izuku wondered.

"What?" Mimosa exclaimed in shock. "Security Mages for the Magic Parliament? What are they doing here?"

"You are obstructing Magic Knight business!" Kirsch exclaimed. "I advise you to leave!"

"By order of Magic Parliament Chairman Damnatio Kira, all of you are to be brought in for questioning." The Security Mage at the front ordered. "Please cooperate, or we will take your resistance as justification to use lethal force."

Sojiro scowled. "I see that man from before just couldn't leave things be." He mused.

"You met Chairman Kira?" Mimosa was surprised.

"You'll have to forgive us, Mimosa, it appears we've caused you trouble." Sojiro sighed.

"Err...we'll just be going now." The guards vanished inside of the building.

"There must be some sort of misunderstanding." Kirsch tried to play peacemaker. "We were simply helping some diplomats to a meeting with the Wizard King."

"There is no misunderstanding." The man in the front shook his head. "These five could never be diplomats."

"Okay, then why arrest us?" Kirsch demanded. "We were simply duped."

"And we're really sorry for that," Noriko promised, "it's just that this is a matter of life and death. Believe me, we wouldn't tell a lie like that unless we absolutely had to."

"Noriko is speaking the truth, Sir Kirsch." Sojiro assured him. "We may not be diplomats, but our reason for being here is important all the same. The safety of your home depends on it."

"My apologies, Sir Kirsch." The Security Mage spoke up. "But it is clear that your sister had willingly cooperated with these people due to her attachment to the demon on trial today. For that reason, she must be judged as an enemy of peace."

"Out of the question!" Kirsch snarled. "Mimosa only agreed to help them out of concern for a friend. That is one of the most beautiful things there is! And there is certainly nothing illegal about it! You will not arrest my little sister!"

"We can, and we will. Remember your place, Sir Kirsch. Even if you are a Magic Knight and a nobleman, we are the Magic Parliament. Our duty is to judge criminals. Your duty is to fight and die for this country. On a social hierarchy of importance to this country's continued prosperity, you are cannon fodder compared to us."

Kirsch narrowed his eyes in sheer fury. "How dare you, don't talk down to the people who put their lives on the line for ungrateful, ugly trash like you!" He exclaimed.

The Security Mage sighed. "We can stand here and debate all day." He said, ignoring the fact he was the one instigating all these debates and arguments. "Surrender these false diplomats and I will ask Chairman Kira to lighten yours and Lady Mimosa's sentences."

Kirsch froze, finding himself caught in a mental dilemma. _If we surrender these people, our sentences will be lighter. Most likely, a few days in prison, nothing on our records, and we get to go back to our normal lives. We're nobles after all, nothing stays on our record forever._

 _Mimosa, I admire your candor, but this was a fool's errand. Let us simply surrender and move on with our lives. Going against the Magic Parliament will only make things worse for everyone, especially with our kingdom rebuilding from the final battle with the Eye of the Midnight Sun._

"Hey," Kirsch was cut from his thoughts by his sister's voice, "what did you say earlier?"

Mimosa was addressing Sojiro. "You said that the reason you were here...the reason you wanted to see the Wizard King...was a matter of life and death, right?"

Sojiro nodded. Mimosa took a deep breath, coming to a decision. "I believe you," she said simply, "go and see Lord Julius. I'll buy you as much time as I can."

"What? Mimosa!" Kirsch exclaimed in shock. "They're offering a reduced sentence! I know how much helping Asta means to you, but…"

"Brother, these people are risking everything to warn us about something that could very well mean the destruction of our home and everyone we know and love." Mimosa reminded him. "I know that all we have to go on is their word, but look around you, Clover Kingdom is already on the brink of destruction as it is."

"We can't afford to ignore warnings like that." Mimosa sagely pointed out. "This is no longer just for Asta's sake. Even if all we have to go on is their word, I will put my faith that they have nothing but the best intentions in mind. Because if they are telling the truth, then we need to be prepared to protect the kingdom once more."

"Mimosa…" Kirsch muttered in shock.

"Che, to think that the demon has tainted the mind of one of our nobility." The lead Security Mage muttered in disgust. "I suppose the least I can do is put you out of your misery, Lady Mimosa. If you side against justice, you will have to be executed."

"You will do no such thing." Kirsch snapped. "Forget your justice. I won't allow you to lay one hand on my little sister!"

"Shogo." Sojiro spoke up.

Shogo grinned, cracking his neck. "Understood, Grandmaster." He responded, stepping forward in front of Mimosa and Kirsch.

"Hey, Shogo, you might want to pull your punches just a little. If we hurt these guys too badly, it may leave a bad impression on the Wizard King." Noriko pointed out.

"Noriko, can I leave this to you two?" Sojiro asked.

"Well, more like you can leave this to Shogo. I'm no fighter." Noriko reminded the old man. "But, just in case he hits them too hard, I'll heal them...but I'm going to hate doing it."

"What? You're going to fight in our stead?" Kirsch was surprised.

"Yeah, the last thing we want is to make things difficult for you two. At least, not more than we already have." Noriko replied with a smile. "Don't worry, he's a lunatic and an idiot, but these guys are no match for Shogo."

Sojiro then grabbed Kirsch and Mimosa, surprising them both. "Now then, you two mentioned that the balcony was where I could find Lord Julius, yes?"

"Eh?" Kirsch and Mimosa muttered in shock, realizing what Sojiro planned to do.

"Ruby, Izuku, do you two think you can follow me up to that balcony?" Sojiro asked.

Izuku responded by activating One For All: Full Cowling. Ruby brandished Crescent Rose. Both smiled confidently at the Grandmaster.

Meanwhile, Asta and Secre finally reached the courthouse of the Magic Parliament. "We're here." Secre muttered.

"That's the courthouse?"Asta said in awe, briefly forgetting that he was here for his trial.

Damnatio leaned into Asta's ear. "I hope you're prepared, Demon." Damnatio told him. "Your hour of judgement has arrived."

Asta glared at Damnatio. "I'm no demon." He denied. "I keep telling you people I'm innocent. Same with Nero here!"

"That is for the courts to decide." Damnatio responded simply.

Asta desperately kept his composure as the courtroom doors opened. The moment of truth had arrived. His trial was about to begin...


	14. Chapter 14: Scales of Justice

**Chapter 14: Scales of Justice**

A few moments earlier, inside the meeting hall where the Wizard King and the Magic Knight Captains resided, a young boy of about thirteen, dressed in regal robes, stood before seven individuals who absolutely radiated power. "This meeting shall now be called to order." Said Julius Novachrono, the Wizard King of Clover Kingdom, now deaged and depowered into his thirteen-year-old self after a brutal battle.

"My Lord Julius," Kaiser Granvorka, Captain of the Purple Orcas Squad, spoke up, "if I may, Captain Yami and Captain Vangeance are not in attendance. Not only that, but it seems Sir Fuegoleon is here in place of his elder sister, Captain Mereoleona. Should we really start now?"

Fuegoleon Vermillion, the Captain of the Crimson Lion Kings, whom had been taken out of action due to injury and replaced by his older sister, heaved a sigh. "Mereoleona has pushed the responsibility back onto me." He said simply. "I wouldn't count on her coming."

"Yami is most likely preparing to attack the courthouse with the rest of his squad." Nozel Silva, Captain of the Silver Eagles, pointed out. "He's not behaving rashly."

"Indeed, and William is taking some time to reflect on recent events." Julius said of William Vangeance, the Captain of the Roars of the Golden Dawn.

"Kekeke!" Jack the Ripper, Captain of the Green Praying Mantises, laughed. "So there's no consequences for skipping these lame-ass meetings after all? I should've done so years ago!"

Ignoring Jack, Julius continued to speak. "Which is why we need to act quickly." He explained. "Fuegoleon, Nozel, are you ready to move to the courthouse? My orders will have far more impact if they are delivered by two members of the two most respected noble houses: the Silvas and the Vermillions."

"Of course, Lord Julius, this is for young Asta's sake." Fuegoleon promised.

"Lowborn he may be, he is still a Magic Knight that has been acknowledged even by you, Lord Julius." Nozel added. "Should he be imprisoned or executed, the Magic Knights will have lost a valuable member, and that means the Clover Kingdom will have been weakened as well...in a time where she cannot afford to be weak."

Nozel sighed. "Yami may be acting irrational, but that Damnatio is even worse."

"It's not that that man is acting irrational." Charlotte Roselei, Captain of the Blue Roses, shook her head. "As far as he's concerned, he's the most rational man in the kingdom. It's more that he's misguided."

"That's probably the most polite way to describe that creep." Jack noted.

"You're the last person who should be calling anyone a creep." Dorothy Upshaw, Captain of the Coral Peacocks (who was also surprisingly awake at the moment), said with a giggle.

"We're getting off track here. We're going to save Asta with this plan, right?" Rill Boismortier, Captain of the Azure Deer, inquired in concern for his friend.

"Of course, Rill, but I should note that there is tremendous risk here." Julius acknowledged. "For one thing, there is the fact that our plan involves exiling the Black Bulls _with_ Asta to gather information on our hidden enemies: the devils."

"To think the monsters of legend would turn out to be the real enemies." Charlotte muttered to herself, remembering her (or rather, the elf inhabiting her body) participation in the battle against the devil who had instigated the bloody feud between humans and elves.

"Mmm, and we can certainly expect the devil who had been using the conflict between us and the Eye of the Midnight Sun won't be the only one." Julius pointed out. "As we all know, there have been rumors that the Spade Kingdom's power comes from devils."

"Speaking of, what's the news on the Eye of the Midnight Sun's leader? That Patolli guy?" Rill asked curiously.

Kaiser sighed. "Nothing," he said, "I've got my best men trying to find him, but there's not a trace of him anywhere. It's like he used Sir Gueldre's Permeation Magic to escape."

 _And he didn't. Gueldre and that Revchi guy are mooching off of me right now. I'd know if the giant ham was helping a terrorist escape._ Jack thought with a frown of utter annoyance.

Julius shook his head. "It's best we treat Patolli's disappearance as a kidnapping." He explained. "If we do manage to find him, I want him brought back unharmed, and whomever responsible to be dealt with."

"Are you sure, sir? As leader of the Eye of the Midnight Sun, Patolli still has tons of crimes to answer for." Charlotte pointed out.

"William is beside himself with worry over his friend, and I choose to trust in the Patolli that William seems to believe in." Julius said firmly.

Charlotte sighed. "As you say, Lord Julius. I must admit, after my own experience as a woman possessed by an elf...I honestly can't help but empathize with their pain and sorrows."

Julius sighed. "Anyway, there's another issue we need to consider. There is still no guarantee that finding our 'true culprit' will sway the court's opinions. If that happens...the Clover Kingdom may go through something of a social revolution."

"Seriously?" Rill's eyes widened.

"Lord Julius, are you sure one Magic Knight is worth social upheaval?" Kaiser asked.

"Kaiser," Julius replied, "we cannot let the courts set a precedent where Magic Knights can be removed at the whim of the courts. It's shaky, but we've kept a rather decent balance of power between the king, the Magic Knights, and the Magic Parliament. We cannot allow that balance to be destroyed by the parliament to take too much power."

"Especially when you consider that there are plenty of nobles who would take advantage of that power for their own benefit." Fuegoleon acknowledged with a sigh. "If they still will not desist in making Asta a scapegoat, we may have no choice but to check the parliament, and damn the consequences. If it becomes necessary, we _will_ fight the courts, not in battle, but in politics."

"You honestly believe that, Fuegoleon?" Nozel asked curiously.

"I do," Fuegoleon admitted, "Lord Julius is right, we cannot allow a precedent to be set where anyone, let alone the courts, are allowed to destroy people they dislike. Throughout his career as Wizard King, Lord Julius has strived to reform the kingdom's social policies. If this is the inevitable end to this path...we need to do this for the kingdom's sake."

"Sounds like things are getting interesting." Jack licked his lips.

"Thank you for the vote of confidence, Fuegoleon." Julius said before turning to Nozel. "Nozel, I understand your doubts, but I assure you, I would've never set this into motion if I wasn't a hundred percent certain both ends would benefit our kingdom."

"I trust you in that regard, Lord Julius, that is also why I shall help." Nozel promised.

Julius nodded. "Now then, let us not be sidetracked any longer." He said, taking a scroll out of his pocket. "Fuegoleon, Nozel, you two are to make your way to the courthouse. When you are there, stop Yami from doing more damage than he probably already will have by the time you're there. Above all else, do not let Asta die."

"Yes Sir," Fuegoleon and Nozel said in unison.

"As for the rest of you, I'd like you to remain a bit longer, if possible." Julius said. "We need to discuss our kingdom's future, and-"

Julius was suddenly cut off from his thoughts. "Oh? It appears there is some sort of commotion going on outside the base?"

"Ooh?" Dorothy's eyes went wide. "Lord Julius is right! Someone seems to be getting into a fight! Oh, and I can sense the Mana of two members of your family, Fuegoleon!"

"What?" Fugeoleon was surprised. "Why would two members of my family be starting a fight in the middle of the capital? Such actions are an affront to our family honor!"

"Maybe someone looked at your sister the wrong way, and your little brother is trying to defend her honor." Jack suggested with an uncaring shrug.

"If someone did look at Mereoleona in any wrong way, they shouldn't even be allowed to see the light of day, they should be institutionalized!" Fuegoleon comically pointed out. "And if someone did, Mereoleona would turn them into paste before Leo even got a chance to fight them!"

Julius heaved a sigh. "Well, I guess I better go and see what the commotion is." He decided, turning around and walking towards the balcony.

"Don't just go over there without an escort!" Fuegoleon exclaimed in disbelief.

"Lord Julius, your power is almost gone!" Charlotte reminded him.

Julius ignored them and continued making his way to the balcony. Then, much to everyone's surprise, a very old man, carrying two Magic Knights, suddenly leapt onto the balcony railing. He was immediately followed by rose petals that transformed into a petite girl with a giant scythe, and a young man glowing with green lightning who had propelled himself off of a wall onto the balcony.

 _WHAT THE HELL?!_ Was everyone else's thought. Even the normally stoic Nozel was in shock at what he was seeing.

"Err...hi." Sojiro said sheepishly.

Dorothy then recognized one of the Magic Knights being held by the old man. "Oh, it's Kirsch! I can't believe we forgot that there are other Vermillions besides Fuegoleon's immediate family."

"I can't believe you forgot the Mana of your own Vice Captain!" Charlotte exclaimed.

Fuegoleon gasped. "What the...Mimosa is there too?" He noted before heaving a sigh of relief. "Oh thank goodness, so Mereoleona and Leopold aren't starting fights."

Behind Sojiro, Izuku Midoriya and Ruby Rose were immediately put on guard at the sight of the seven present Magic Knight Captains. _Whoa, these guys are crazy._ Izuku thought in disbelief. _I mean, I can't sense this magic that Grandmaster Sojiro and the others are talking about, but these guys radiate power._

Ruby was in a similar state. _Is this what having massive amounts of magic is like in a world that just_ _ **has**_ _magic?_ She thought. _Oh man, this is crazy. I'm sweating just from being in their presence!_

"Apologies for barging in like this, I assure you that we wouldn't have done so had it not been urgent." Sojiro promised. "And we were kind of in a rush after a few mages attacked us."

"What?" Rill was confused. "Why would you guys be attacked?"

"You mean besides the fact they're breaking and entering the Magic Knights' headquarters!" Charlotte was proving herself to be the only sane one in the bunch.

"I like their style!" Jack cut in, already brandishing the scythe-blades protruding from his arms. "I'm gonna fight them!"

"Jack, there will be no fighting here." Julius ordered. "I think our intruders come in peace. So, let's allow them to remain in peace."

Jack relented instinctively, as Julius was still the Wizard King, technically. Sojiro's eyes widened, realizing immediately what a guy like Jack listening to Julius meant. "You're the Wizard King, aren't you?"

"This kid is the Wizard King?!" Ruby and Izuku exclaimed in unison.

"I advise you to show some respect." Nozel frowned.

"Indeed, this man is the 28th Wizard King of Clover Kingdom." Fuegoleon added.

"Yeah, but I don't really have the power to back that title up anymore, so no reason to be so formal with me." Fugeoleon and Nozel almost fell over at Julius informal behavior. Julius then addressed the newcomers once more. "Greetings, intruders, my name is Julius Novachrono. Apologies that I can't look a bit more presentable. A bit of a side effect from storing up some time just in case the worst happened to me…and as you can see, it did."

Sojiro took a moment to look over Julius. "You're certainly dressed the part, all things considered." Sojiro acknowledged. "And you still seem to command loyalty and respect from men and women clearly more powerful than you."

"Wait, so he _is_ the Wizard King?" Izuku was still in disbelief that a kid younger than him was in charge of an army of mages.

"That is unbelievably cool." Ruby added, fully buying it.

"We're sorry about this ugly display, Lord Julius." Kirsch spoke up. "It's just that these people claim to have an important message...and Mimosa wanted to use them to help Asta."

"I take full responsibility, Lord Julius, Kirsch was just trying to help me." Mimosa added.

Julius hummed and strode past the five newcomers. Arriving at the balcony, he looked out to see another unfamiliar face locked in combat with six individuals dressed as Security Mages for the Magic Parliament. "Ah, so the fight was with Damnatio's men." Julius noted. "I suppose I'll just look the other way then."

"That...might not be wise, Lord Julius." Kaiser pointed out.

"I will not have Damnatio harassing my Magic Knights due to his own paranoia and sense of justice." Julius countered. "Especially when those knights claim to have information vital to our kingdom."

"Well, we don't." Mimosa pointed out. "They do."

"Then as Wizard King, it is my duty to listen." Julius pointed out.

"Following that logic, you'd stop to listen to every crazy homeless guy screaming that the end was coming." Jack muttered.

"Now then," Julius walked back into the meeting room so that these newcomers could address everyone, and not just him, "you managed to convince two of my Magic Knights that your tale was worth listening to, so now I shall give you the time of day."

Sojiro bowed respectfully to Julius-an odd sight for sure, a much older man bowing to a thirteen year old-and responded. "I thank you, Lord Julius."

"First, just call me 'Julius'." Julius interrupted. "It's...far too strange to hear someone who looks old enough to be my grandfather call me that."

"...Julius it is then." Sojiro nodded. "Allow me to introduce myself first. I am Sojiro, Grandmaster of my kingdom's military academy, the Kingdom of Menou."

"And just like that, the tale is already absurd." Nozel sighed, opening his grimoire to strike down this liar. "There is no such kingdom."

"Let him continue, Nozel." Julius said firmly.

"I come to you with grave news." Sojiro admitted. "Your lands...no, your entire world is being threatened by an anarchist Cult, devoted to bringing genocide to an entire universe."

" _Our_ entire world? The entire universe?" Charlotte gazed at Sojiro suspiciously.

"The truth is, your world is actually one of many." Sojiro revealed. "Our mutual enemies are like locusts. They swarm from world to world until there is nothing left. And then they move onto the next one."

"These two children you see behind me," Sojiro continued, "are individuals from two worlds that have managed to survive their assault so far. However, I fear that the enemy, a group known as the Cult of the End, are gathering allies for a full-scale assault to ensure the destruction of their worlds, your world, and many worlds around you."

"I come to you, not just to warn you, but to also enlist your aid in fighting off these attackers. We have already gained the aid of plenty powerful allies from other worlds. With our combined strength, I am confident we stand a fighting chance in stopping these vicious foes."

Kaiser sighed. "My good sir," he said, "there is a mental hospital in the capital just east of here, I suggest you go there."

"It's the truth!" Ruby exclaimed. "These people almost killed my friends and me! The Grandmaster is the reason we're still here!"

"And they are no joke, too!" Izuku added. "They attacked one day, and already killed so many heroes, they had to start drafting students who have obtained their provisional licenses!"

"Enough, you're embarrassing yourselves." Nozel calmly cut in. "I don't know who you think you are, but you should be ashamed of yourselves, wasting our time with such a tall tale."

"Indeed," Fuegoleon sighed and nodded, "I'm sorry to tell you this, but it's all hogwash. Only an utter fool would believe your story."

"I believe you." Julius said simply, as though he had been ignoring everyone else's statements on the matter.

"LORD JULIUS!" All the Magic Knight Captains (sans Dorothy, who had just been laughing in utter delight) exclaimed in disbelief.

"You do? Just like that?" Sojiro was also quite surprised. Usually you needed to be attacked by people from another world to believe there were other worlds. That was pretty much how it was for Izuku and Ruby, after all.

"Well, let's look at the facts." Julius said with a bright smile. "First of all, you three broke into the Magic Knights' headquarters to get me this message. That means you are truly convinced this is true. I can't see someone who doesn't 100% believe such a story to have the conviction to actually break the law. Whether someone is right or wrong, if they have the conviction to break the law, that means they do believe what they are doing."

"Second, there is the fact that regardless of who you are, you at least mean us no harm. I can sense no hostile intent from any of you. It matches up with the fact you've come here to warn us and to offer us help against these foes." Julius held up two fingers now. "Of course, these are only what gives me reason to listen to you, not necessarily believe you."

A third finger went up. A smile appeared on his face. "You see, most importantly, as this was what truly convinced me to believe you, I don't sense any magic from any of you."

Dorothy laughed at this. "He's right," she said, "there's no magic in the boy. However, the girl and the old man seem to have two different, but equally weird, energy source inside of them."

"Very astute, Dorothy." Julius nodded as stars appeared in his eyes. He suddenly rushed towards Ruby and Sojiro, clearly no longer caring about their personal space. "Please, you have to tell me what kind of energy source runs through your body like mana! I must know!"

"Whoa, Lord Julius' magic-geek tendencies are coming out on people who don't have any magic." Jack noted in surprise.

Ruby eeped and hid behind Sojiro, uncomfortable with how close Julius was getting to her and the old man. Sojiro sighed. "I see," he said, "so, because we have an energy source different from magic, you've decided to believe us."

Julius returned to normal and nodded. "Other than the concept of ki, the only power-source out there is magic." Julius explained. "At least, that is the case in this world."

"You really are believing all of this?" Charlotte asked.

"You can sense it too, right Charlotte? In fact, I think you all sense it. These people are different from us. What other explanation is there, other than that they indeed have come from other worlds?" Julius inquired curiously.

Sojiro could not help but smile. "Such wisdom," he noted, audibly impressed, "now I definitely believe that you are the Wizard King."

Julius laughed. "Oh, don't give me so much credit, Grandmaster Sojiro, it is simple deductive reasoning."

Fuegoleon took a deep breath. "Well, if Lord Julius believes you and your tale, I suppose I have no choice but to believe the same." He acknowledged. "I apologize for my hostility...Grandmaster Sojiro, was it?"

"Apology accepted," Sojiro brushed the matter off, "it did not surprise me at all that you didn't believe me. If anything, I was more surprised at how accepting Julius was of the matter."

"Although, judging by the fact your kingdom seems to be rebuilding right now, I can't help but wonder if we were already too late?" Sojiro noted.

"Oh, that?" Julius chuckled. "We just got in a big fight with some terrorists, no big deal."

"It was very much a big deal!" Fuegoleon and Charlotte yelled in unison.

"Wait, so the Cult hasn't been here yet?" Ruby breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness, so we weren't too late."

"Don't celebrate yet, Ruby." Izuku spoke up. "Remember what I told you. They attacked without warning when they invaded my world. They could already be here. If they haven't attacked yet, they're just biding their time."

"Then I suppose this means we have an alliance, Julius?" Sojiro inquired, extending his hand.

Julius gazed at Sojiro's hand and almost reached out to shake it. Then he had an idea.

"Grandmaster," Julius said, "you said you were a teacher, yes?"

"Yes," Sojiro gazed at Julius, wondering what the Wizard King was getting at.

Julius chuckled. "Fuegoleon, Nozel, I think I just came up with a plan even better than the one I originally had." He claimed.

"I know that laugh, that's not a good laugh." Fuegoleon heaved a tired sigh.

"Okay then," Julius grinned, "Grandmaster, before we finalize this alliance, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask of you a tiny favor."

Mimosa's expression lit up at Julius' next statement. "There is a Magic Knight unjustly on trial for what happened to our kingdom recently. He's being made a scapegoat because his body happens to host a devil." Julius explained. "I want you to take him in your custody, and train him to 'control' that devil's power."

"Hold on, Lord Julius." Nozel spoke up. "That won't satisfy the Magic Parliament. He'll still be the scapegoat if we don't find the source of devils outside the kingdom that we can label as the culprits."

"Then we'll continue with the original plan to investigate devils." Julius responded. "Right now, Asta is in danger because he is in an area that already despises him for his social status. Hosting a devil only adds to that hatred. If we can get Asta out of the kingdom with the promise to control that devil, we improve his chances of survival."

"I am in the same boat as you, Nozel. I don't want him to die." Julius admitted. "Asta is a splendid Magic Knight, one whom I hope future generations attempt to model themselves after. His merits, candor for his people, and his devotion to duty, are the exact qualities I've strived for years to instill into the Magic Knights."

Nozel scoffed. "It's...not like I care whether he lives or dies or not." He denied, clearly not meaning it. "I just...would hate for our organization to lose a valued member."

"So the alliance will be finalized if I take young Asta into my custody to train?" Sojiro inquired.

"That is correct." Julius nodded. "You have my word, Grandmaster."

Sojiro nodded back, agreeing to these terms without hesitation. "Done," he said, "if this young man really is being unjustly tried, then since I've been given free reign to interfere in these matters, I shall."

"Oh God, we're going to crash a courtroom trial." Izuku paled, realizing what they were about to do. "That's breaking a lot of laws where I come from...I hope this doesn't go on my criminal record in my world. It would make being a hero impossible."

"Hey now, heroes are supposed to help people." Ruby reminded Izuku. "If this Asta guy is in trouble, we need to help him."

Suddenly, the doors swung open. A young man with a bowl cut barged in with a frantic look on his face. "Lord Julius!" Marx Francois yelled. "Are you alright? I heard about the commotion outside!"

"Oh, I'm fine, Marx." Julius said nonchalantly. "In fact, it's actually a good thing you are here. Could you please hand me some papers so that I may quickly draft a new official order of the Wizard King?"

"H-huh? Do you think I just carry blank paper on me?" Marx demanded.

"Yes." Julius said bluntly.

Marx sighed. "You're right, I do." He muttered, reaching into his coat and pulling out a blank sheet of paper. "You always do things on a whim, so I have to keep blank documents ready for you to write and sign things as official orders."

Marx was then suddenly launched forward by a powerful, burning hot force. He landed right in front of Julius. "You're moving pretty fast today, Marx." Julius noted, clearly not caring about his assistant's current state.

Izuku and Ruby both paled at the source of power that just entered the room. A tall, busty woman with wavy, vermillion-colored hair entered the room. Her entire body was covered with a flaming aura that was protruding fiery paws from her head. Those paws were holding the whimpering forms of Shogo and Noriko, who looked unharmed but utterly traumatized.

"KYAH! A MONSTER!" Ruby and Izuku both screamed.

"Huh? Who the hell are these brats?" Mereoleona Vermillion, the current captain of the Crimson Lion Kings, wondered out loud.

Deciding to table those thoughts, she addressed Julius. "Yo, Lord Julius." She said. "I found these two standing over a bunch of knocked out Security Mages. Didn't really know what to do to them, since they surrendered without a fight, so I brought them to you."

"Those are our friends now, Mereoleona." Julius sweat-dropped. "You didn't hurt them, did you?"

"I told you, they surrendered without a fight." Mereoleona responded. "The worst I did to them was I gave the guy who wouldn't stop going on about how awesome a hero he was a stern talking to about talking all that crap and then just giving up."

"SERIOUSLY!" Mereoleona screamed into Shogo's ear. "ARE YOU A MAN OR NOT!"

Shogo just whimpered. "Is this true, Noriko?" Sojiro asked his nurse.

"Of course we surrendered. This woman isn't human, Grandmaster." Noriko whimpered.

"Please put them down, Mereoleona." Julius said calmly. "Like I said, they are our friends right now. They are going to help us with Asta."

"Huh?" Mereoleona frowned. "Did I miss something?"

"Quite a bit actually." Charlotte sweat-dropped.

"If you actually showed up for meetings, you wouldn't have." Fuegoleon muttered.

"What was that, Little Brother?" Mereoleona growled.

"Nothing, Sister!" Fuegoleon let out an uncharacteristic yelp.

 _This woman is intense._ Izuku and Ruby noted in unison.

Julius then leaned down and took the paper from from the unconscious Marx. He pulled a magic quill from a nearby desk, dipped it in ink, and began writing on the paper.

After a few moments, he held the paper in front of him to read out loud. "By order of the 28th Wizard King, Julius Novachrono." He said. "The Magic Knights known as Secre Swallowtail and Asta of the Black Bulls Squad, who stand accused of terrorism, conspiracy, treason, and collaboration with devils are to be released into the custody of Grandmaster Sojiro, personal friend of the Wizard King for supervision and to control their unique powers for the safety and betterment of Clover Kingdom."

He then handed the paper to Sojiro. "There you are, Grandmaster." Julius said. "Just bring that to the courthouse, explain the situation to those stuffed shirts that make up the Magic Parliament, and Asta will be in your custody by the end of the day."

"And we will discuss finalizing our alliance afterwards?" Sojiro inquired.

"You have my word, Grandmaster." Julius promised.

"Very well, come along, Ruby, Izuku." Sojiro ordered.

"Ah, Nozel, Fuegoleon, would you two mind escorting our new friends to the courthouse? I doubt they know where it is." Julius suggested.

"Sir, Magic Knight Captains are not escorts." Nozel said in annoyance.

"I suppose that means you're fine with _not_ checking in on your youngest sister while she recklessly disrupts a trial." Fuegoleon shrugged as he walked over to Sojiro, Izuku and Ruby.

Nozel coughed and then walked over to the otherworlders. "The Wizard King's orders _are_ absolute." He acknowledged.

 _Oh my God, so transparent._ Jack gave Nozel a deadpan expression.

"Grandmaster," Nozel said, noticeably more respectful now, "Fuegoleon and I will take you to the courthouse."

"Perhaps we run across the rooftops then?" Sojiro asked. "We can move faster that way."

"I...suppose that is faster than us just grabbing our broomsticks." Fuegoleon acknowledged. "And...I don't think you use broomstick travel?"

"Not at all." Izuku admitted.

"You really use broomsticks," Ruby muttered, still unable to believe it, in spite of having seen it herself, "just like witches in the books I used to read."

"I'll see you after the trial, Julius." Sojiro said. "Come Ruby, Izuku. Captain Nozel, Captain Fuegoleon, I await you outside."

Getting a running start, Sojiro leapt from the balcony, gracefully landing on a nearby roof. "Err...it was very nice meeting you Wizard King, Captains." Izuku said politely before activating Full Cowling again and jumping after Sojiro.

"...What he said." Ruby added before transforming into rose petals and flying away.

Fuegoleon and Nozel looked at each other before running to the balcony and leaping after the trio of otherworlders. After they left, Mereoleona let out a jovial laugh. "I have no idea who they are, but I freaking love their style." She admitted.

"I'm actually going to have to side with the lioness here." Jack admitted. "They're crazy, and I love it! Keke!"

"Lord Julius," Charlotte spoke up, "are you sure that was the right thing to do? You had a better chance at getting the courts to delay any sort of punishment if you had stuck with exiling Asta and the Black Bulls. Why risk it all by giving Asta free reign to be trained by this man-whom nobody knows by the way-to control the devil's power?"

Julius sighed. "I guess it's because I'm worried that our kingdom could very well be entering an even darker time than our war with the Eye of the Midnight Sun."

"You mean this cult that the Grandmaster was warning us about?" Kaiser inquired curiously.

"Not just them...I've been receiving reports on some very...dark scenarios I hoped would never occur." Julius admitted. "And I fear we'll need Asta for when those scenarios fully come to pass."

"Oh man," Rill's eyes widened, "I've never heard you sound like that, Lord Julius. I don't think you were even this worried with the Eye of the Midnight Sun."

Julius nodded. "We need Asta here. Truthfully, I had wanted Asta to be trained to control that power, but I needed an outsider with no conflict of interest."

"These nobles," Julius continued, "are a paranoid, hateful bunch. If any of us had offered to train Asta to better use his demonic powers so that he was no longer a threat to the kingdom, we would've been accused of wanting the demon's power for ourselves and usurping their power. And then the Magic Knights would be investigated for a possible coup against the nobles and the crown. Or even worse, the Common and Forsaken Regions would be purged out of sheer paranoia."

"He's right. That's exactly how those damn nobles would respond." Mereoleona growled, folding her arms.

"So, for this plan to have worked, we needed someone outside of the kingdom. What better than a personal friend of mine who is also a foreigner?" Julius said with a mischievous smile. "In the end, I can't help but believe that this was a wonderful twist of fate."

"And thankfully," Julius continued, "this is an official order of the Wizard King, regarding a Magic Knight. They can cry and scream all they want, they're going to have to simply deal with it. I simply wanted to do this in the most pragmatic way possible that didn't leave anyone _too_ angry and bitter. It's politics at the end of the day."

"Okay, but what about those dark scenarios you were talking about?" Mereoleona asked curiously.

Julius sighed. "You all might want to brace yourselves for this. The truth is, even if Asta will be sticking around training to become stronger, well…"

"Well, what?" Jack folded his arms.

"...I would rate Clover Kingdom's chances of survival at about 20%." Julius grimly revealed, making everyone go pale in horror.

Meanwhile, at the courthouse, Asta and Secre both stood in the middle of the courtroom, surrounded by the nobles who made up the Magic Parliament, and Damnatio Kira, who was leading the whole matter.

Secre subtly looked around the room and immediately felt uncertain about their chances. All of the nobles who made up the Magic Parliament were staring at them with utter disdain in their eyes.

"Order!" Damnatio yelled. "Order in the court! This court is now in session!"

Immediately, the Magic Parliament fell silent. "We are here to hold trial for the crimes of the Magic Knight Asta and the Black Bulls. We have put this trial off long enough."

Asta almost instinctively narrowed his eyes at Damnatio, but managed to keep his cool, impressing Secre with his surprising display of maturity. Asta, remembering what he had promised Secre, responded in an even tone of voice. "These charges are false." He claimed. "I fought to defend my country, not destroy it."

"If I could just be allowed to speak, I could tell you all who the true enemy is." Asta explained.

This caused the nobles to begin murmuring amongst themselves. Secre stiffened, managing to hear their words. They did not believe Asta at all.

"Is that so?" Damnatio looked at his paper. "It seems that even after we granted you a reprieve to allow the Magic Knights to hunt for those escaped terrorists, you still don't seem to understand the situation you're in. Allow me to spell it out for you, Asta of the Black Bulls, resident of the Forsaken Region's Hage Village."

"The only 'true enemy' I see," Damnatio continued, narrowing his eyes, "are the devils I see before me."

"Devils? No way." Asta shook his head. "I'm no devil, and neither is Ne-Secre."

"The horns say otherwise," Damnatio replied, "those horns are proof that the defendant Secre Swallowtail-whom lacks any records, might I add-that forbidden magic was used by her. And what is the most forbidden magic in existence than magic that involves devils?"

More murmuring, more words of hate from the Magic Parliament. "What kind of statement is that?" Asta demanded. "Even if that is true, she used it to beat the real devil! The true enemy! Not us!"

"So you claim."

"Because it's the truth!" Asta claimed. "It was a devil that manipulated the whole conflict between the humans and the elves!"

"Asta, remember what we discussed." Secre whispered. "We don't have any proof of that."

"Those horns are proof she's a devil!" One noble shouted out.

"And why should we believe the testimony of a filthy peasant like you!" Another added.

Secre's heart sank at those words. _Even after all of Lord Julius' hard work, there is still so much discrimination towards the commonfolk. Prince Lemiel...I'm so sorry about what has happened to the nation you worked so hard to protect._

"Maybe I am a peasant and maybe she has horns!" Asta acknowledged. "But we've both fought for the kingdom with all our strength! Please, you've gotta listen to what I have to say here! That devil we fought...he wasn't the only one! There's gotta be more of them!"

"Order in the court." Damnatio said calmly, silencing the crowd and walking up to Asta.

"You are such a fool, boy." Damnatio told him. "You act as though you can sway the outcome of this trial in your favor. However, the scales have already been tipped. There are only two possible outcomes now."

"Either you are judged as a devil or the Magic Knights bear the dishonor of this crime, meaning there will have to be an investigation." Damnatio then leaned into Asta's ear and whispered the next statement. "And since many Magic Knights come from noble backgrounds, I think you know which outcome will happen. Justice demands blood. And what's the blood of one insignificant peasant like yourself compared to the blood of men and women of quality?"

Damnatio then walked away from Asta, who had been stunned into silence by Damnatio's callousness. "Now then, you claim that a devil was responsible for this. But where is this devil?"

"We beat him!" Asta claimed. "We destroyed him! And Secre helped! She had been planning his downfall for a long time!"

"How convenient." Damnatio sighed. "Since you cannot provide any proof, the only logical course of action is to judge you two as devils. Between the girl's forbidden magic and your grimoire, we have evidence."

"I'm human and so is Secre!" Asta yelled, now starting to lose his composure. "Even if a devil lives in my grimoire, it's a different devil, and-"

"Asta be quiet!" Secre said sharply.

Damnatio heaved a sigh. _The scales are tipping against him by the minute. He is so easy to manipulate._ Damnatio cruelly noted. _Still, we cannot afford to execute someone with the appearance of a human. If word gets out we executed a devil who did not even show his true form, we'll have a repeat of...that scandal…_

"You seem intend on claiming your innocence until the end, so perhaps I should offer an alternative." Damnatio decided. "If there is no devil to be seen, that means we must assume that no devil was even involved in these crimes. That means, we need to move onto a different course of action."

"So, you'll listen than?" Asta asked hopefully.

"No," Damnatio bluntly replied, "instead, we will have to judge everyone one by one."

Asta paled, wondering just what Damnatio meant by that. "Bring in the girl." Damnatio ordered.

A pair of doors opened, revealing two guards and a little girl being led into the courtroom. Asta's eyes widened in horror, recognizing her. "Marie?" He said, shocked at the sight of his squad mate's younger sister. "What are you guys doing to her?"

"Judging her." Damnatio said cruelly as Marie Adlai was suddenly brought to the center of the courtroom before Asta and Secre.

"Asta?" Marie looked so scared and confused. "What is happening here?"

"For the Magic Parliament's convenience, allow me to introduce Marie Adlai." Damnatio announced. "She is a fallen noble and the younger sister of Gauche Adlai, a convicted criminal."

"This girl's magic was used to hurt citizens of the kingdom during the recent conflict." Damnatio lied. "Judging by her background, it is clear that this girl had a grudge against the noble and ruling class and acted on it."

"Hold it!" Asta yelled. "Don't just spout off anything you want! And none of that Marie's own doing!"

"You would be correct if a devil did exist. That would mean she wasn't doing any of this under her own free will." Damnatio pointed out before adding. "But since you cannot prove that, all we have is a crime this girl committed of her own free will."

Secre looked utterly mortified, realizing what Damnatio meant to do. Damnatio's voice then climbed in volume. "She must be judged!" He declared. "In the name of justice!"

At that moment, the guards trained their grimoires on her, ready to execute her in an instant. "Asta!" Marie looked close to tears as she called out to him.

"Stop it!" Asta yelled. "Stop, damn it!"

"Marie Adlai," Damnatio ignored Asta's pleas, "you are judged as pure evil. Execute her!"

The guards fired their spells at Marie simultaneously. In an instant, Asta leapt from his spot, breaking his handcuffs easily. He quickly generated one of his Anti-Magic Swords from his five-leaf grimoire and slashed the spells out of existence, transforming into his 'Black Asta' form, the form he gained from his devil, in the process.

Asta protectively positioned his body over Marie's as he glared at Damnatio. "I know too damn well what your methods are!" He yelled. "I won't acknowledge your justice!"

"And we will never see eye to eye with a devil." Damnatio calmly replied.

Damnatio's face then contorted into a twisted smirk. "Thank you for showing us your true colors though, Devil."

Secre's eyes widened. _We fell right into his trap!_ She realized.

Asta, to his credit, tried to salvage the situation. "Cut the crap!" He exclaimed. "I'm still human! I can control this power! I won't attack any of you!"

"Lies! All lies!" A nobleman exclaimed.

"We must kill him before he brings another disaster to our kingdom!"

"Execute him, Damnatio, execute him now!" King Augustus Kira Clover XIII demanded.

"It's all over, boy." Damnatio told Asta. "It is best you simply accept your fate and be judged for your crimes. It'd be easier for all of us."

"I told you, I haven't committed any damn crimes!" Asta yelled.

"So what then? You run away? The kingdom would pursue you to the ends of the earth to avoid another tragedy! And then there's the fact that filthy, rundown church in Hage that you were raised in would have to be held responsible for your actions."

"The church has nothing to do with this!" Asta snapped.

"Oh, but I disagree!" Damnatio replied. "Who is to say that the so called 'holy grounds' are merely a front for devil worshipping, hmm?"

Another uproar. "Death to Hage Village! Death to that devil worshipping church!"

"Yes, we should just destroy the village anyway! Just to make sure!"

"It's just a village in the Forsaken Region! Who the hell would miss it?"

"Order in the court!" Damnatio yelled, silencing everyone.

Secre narrowed her eyes. _You call for order, and yet you're the one who's riling everyone up in the first place, you damn hypocrite._

"It is best you let yourself be judged." Damnatio calmly told Asta. "After all, it is your life in exchange for the girl's, and the rest of the Magic Knights."

This silenced Asta. Thinking he had broken the boy's spirit, Damnatio continued. "You are alone." He claimed. "There is no one who will save you, or that you yourself have saved. Because all those involved with you are plagued by misfortune and misery."

"Because you are pure evil." Damnatio cruelly claimed.

Secre desperately wanted to speak out at that statement. _No, he is not evil. I've lived with him for so long now...and he's more of a hero...than all of you are put together!_

At that moment, the wall to courthouse suddenly exploded, blasted to smithereens. "What?" King Augustus exclaimed in shock. "What is this?!"

"Sheesh," Yami Sukehiro, Captain of the Black Bulls stepped inside with a chilly look in his eyes, "here you lot go again, doing whatever you want. Justice my ass. At this point, I really don't care if the kid is evil or not."

And Yami was not alone. "That's right," Magna Swing was with Yami as well, "because I've already acknowledged Asta as a man among men."

"I can't allow Asta to die in a place like this." Luck Voltia was smiling, but there was a protective streak in his eyes that promised death to anyone who made a move against his friend. "I've still gotta get a good match out of him."

"What are you doing to my friends?" Gordon Agrippa was actually speaking clearly, a testament to how furious he was. "I'll curse all of you to death."

"I...I have seen how hard Asta works, and I admire it. He's what I strive for!" Grey claimed in her regular appearance.

"Astaaaaaaa is very kind and gooooooood." Henry Legolant drawled out. "I won't let you huuuuurrrrrrt himmmmmmmmm."

"Asta is a strong and dependable man who has pushed through everything, regardless of how harsh a hand he was given. He defies fate itself!" Vanessa Enoteca declared, her familiar Rogue, hissing on her shoulder.

"He's the best partner anyone could ask for." Finral Roulacesse had the most serious expression anyone who knew him had seen on his face. "He allowed someone like me to stand at his side!"

"You've got to stay alive just a bit longer, Asta." Charmy Pappilon told him. "There's still a lot of yummy food I've gotta feed you!"

"You're the most annoying runt in the world." Zora Ideale heaved a sigh. "But I've gotta admit, you're also the closest thing to a true Magic Knight."

"You're an idiot too, but this kingdom needs you." Noelle Silva then turned red and looked off to the side. "But don't get the wrong idea...just because the kingdom needs you, it's not like _I_ need you, or anything like that!"

The Black Bulls were here to save their members. "Now then," Yami glared at the nobles present. "We're taking our squad mates back! You better be okay with that."

"How rude of you to interrupt these noble court proceedings!" A noble yelled.

"You lot came in 2nd in achievements? That clearly was a mistake!" Another added.

Damnatio glared at the Black Bulls. "How reckless." He snarled. "You do realize your squad's position will suffer if you try to cover for the criminal who was the very cause of this entire war, do you?"

Yami glared right back. "And what about it?" He demanded. "The Black Bulls are the worst of the worst of the Magic Knight squads! Asta and Secre are members of our squad! If you try to lay a hand on them, we'll come after you, treason be damned!"

Asta almost started weeping. "You guys…" He muttered.

The entire parliament was silenced by the Black Bulls effectively declaring war on them for the sake of two insignificant mages. Damnatio brandished his grimoire at the Black Bulls, ready for a fight. The Black Bulls all did the same. Then, the sound of loud applause broke the silence, distracting everyone. "Very good, well said." Sojiro smiled approvingly at the actions of the Black Bulls as he continued to applaud them. Izuku and Ruby gazed at the chaos in disbelief while Fuegoleon and Nozel remained impassive.

Damnatio's eyes widened. _The foreigners...and Captains Nozel and Fuegoleon? What is happening here?_

"It appears Julius' will and leadership live in squads like these." Sojiro noted. "Just as I concluded, regardless of this country's many flaws, there are those who protect it that make this world worth fighting for...all thanks to that man's leadership."

Yami was immediately put on guard at the mention of his master. Just who was this guy? "You again?" Damnatio growled.

"Ah, Chairman Kira," Sojiro smiled mischievously at the younger man, "I apologize that we were not able to meet you in the way you would've preferred. Next time, I'd suggest asking me yourself...and politely."

Damnatio narrowed his eyes. "You act as though there will be a next time."

"Who the hell are you?!" Asta exclaimed in shock.

"Brother?" Noelle looked at her older brother in shock.

"Honestly, Noelle." Nozel sighed. "I understand your reasoning, but please try not to act so recklessly. Remember, it is not just you who is affected by your actions."

"That goes for you as well, Yami." Fuegoleon told his fellow captain. "You're being far too reckless."

"Couldn't disagree more." Yami said bluntly. "Reckless would be me slicing this damn chairman in half and I'd feel pretty damn justified doing it. Screw this kangaroo court crap."

"Yami, Lord Julius came up with a plan to solve this without bloodshed!" Fuegoleon told him. "Please, at least calm down and listen! It's why this old man is here right now."

At that moment, Izuku and Ruby finally got the opportunity to take in Asta's appearance. Asta saw the awed looks on their faces and how they were focused on his appearance. Instinctively, he could not help but wonder. _I don't know who they are...but do they already think I'm a devil too? I usually let that stuff wash off, but..._

Izuku then smiled widely. "Whoa!" He exclaimed. "He looks like he's got some sort of Transformation-based Quirk. If I didn't know better though, I'd say it was Mutant-type! It's neither of those though, because this isn't a world of Quirks. These other worlds are fascinating!"

"Eh?" Asta was confused. Izuku was not afraid of him. In fact, he was actually amazed by him.

Ruby was a different story. The girl sped past everyone and got right in Asta's face. "AH!" She squealed. "That sword is so cool! You have got to let me try it out some time!"

"Eh?" Asta repeated in disbelief. This girl was not afraid of him either. She was just as fascinated by him as the other guy was.

"Alright, for argument's sake, what did Lord Julius come up with?" Yami asked.

Fuegoleon gestured over to Sojiro who took out the scroll Julius had written his new orders in. Sojiro cleared his throat and began reading Julius' order. "By order of the 28th Wizard King, Julius Novachrono. The Magic Knights known as Secre Swallowtail and Asta of the Black Bulls Squad, who stand accused of terrorism, conspiracy, treason, and collaboration with devils are to be released into the custody of Grandmaster Sojiro, personal friend of the Wizard King for supervision and to control their unique powers for the safety and betterment of Clover Kingdom."

"Oh, and in case you lot don't realize it yet, the one known as 'Grandmaster Sojiro' is me." Sojiro told the nobles.

Immediately, the Magic Parliament was sent into an uproar while the Black Bulls all looked shocked at the contents of that order. "Out of the question!" One yelled.

"Why should we release devils into the custody of the likes of you?"

"Who does the Wizard King think he is?"

King Augustus narrowed his eyes at Julius' actions. _Damn him, always doing what he wants. Where was he when we needed him?_ Augustus, of course, was referring to when he had been attacked by a Magic Knight possessed by and elf.

Sojiro heaved a sigh. "So damn noisy." He muttered before speaking loudly. "You can complain all you'd like, but this is an official order from the Wizard King himself. It was even witnessed by several Magic Knight Captains."

"It's true." Fuegoleon nodded. "All of us, minus Captain Yami and Captain Vangeance witnessed Lord Julius giving the order. He was in no way coerced into doing so."

Fuegoleon then stepped forward, deciding to work his own political magic. "As the Magic Parliament of this kingdom, I expect you all to know the law. In case you don't, I am more than happy to remind you."

"An official order of the Wizard King, regarding Magic Knights under his command is to be prioritized above even criminal trials. The only way for it to be overruled is if the Magic Knight in question is already convicted of any crimes." Fuegoleon reminded them.

"And no matter how much you all want to pretend otherwise, neither Asta, nor the girl, has been convicted of anything yet. This is a trial, after all. We are a civilized society, and that means we have a fair trial before a proper, official conviction." Fuegoleon said with narrowed eyes, disgusted by this mockery of justice.

"We were just about to convict him before these proceedings were rudely interrupted, Captain Fuegoleon." Damnatio calmly pointed out.

"From my perspective," Fuegoleon gazed at Marie, who was being protectively cradled by her older brother, Gauche (who was creepily having a nosebleed), "it seems you were attempting to coerce a confession by threatening a little girl."

"While it is true that the actual rules and regulations of attempting to prove the guilt of a defendant have never been properly laid out, morally speaking, I cannot condone such draconian policies to sway a trial in your favor, Chairman."

 _The only reason any rules have never been laid out is because these damn fools think they can do no wrong. Why should nobles be restrained by rules and regulations when they are already perfect, after all? To them, anything is permitted as long as they reach the verdict they desire in their hearts. Or rather...the verdict the Chairman desires._

Damnatio bristled but fell silent upon hearing this. "What my comrade is trying to say," Nozel spoke up, "is that it is the responsibility of the nobles to set a far higher standard than lowborns like Asta. If you are all truly blue-blooded individuals, then you should've been able to reach a guilty verdict without using such tactics."

"The fact that you could not means this is now the responsibility of the Wizard King's...friend, a very skilled teacher." Nozel remembered to play his part in playing up Sojiro as a friend of Julius. "The order has been signed, witnessed by captains, and delivered on his behalf by two leaders of noble households. This trial is over."

The entire Magic Parliament fell silent in disbelief over how quickly this trial had been snatched from their fingers. Julius. That damn Julius, he had denied them the chance to enact their justice and there was absolutely nothing they could do about it. Augustus was sweating in frustration as he glared down at all these damn traitors.

Asta then spoke up, still visibly confused by everything that had just happened. "Hold on, I still don't know what's going on here!" He exclaimed.

Yami laughed at Asta's flustered state as he threw an arm across the young Magic Knight's shoulders. "Ain't it obvious, dumbass?" He inquired with a grin on his face. "You're not dying today. As of today, you and Bird-Girl here are this old man's property!"

"Property!" Asta shrieked.

"Captain, please don't word it like that." Vanessa heaved a sigh.

"Thank goodness." Grey sounded so relieved. "We don't have to fight the kingdom after all."

Finral laughed. "No kidding," he said, "no offense, Captain Yami, but we really didn't plan beyond saving Asta and Secre."

"Shut up or die, Finral." Yami deadpanned.

"Eep! Sorry, Captain!" Finral shrieked.

Sojiro laughed at the display before walking up to Asta. "Such a lively bunch." He mused before turning his attention to Asta. "Now then, it's Asta, yes?"

"Er, yeah." Asta nodded. "So you're...mine and Secre's new owner? And you're a personal friend of the Wizard King?"

Sojiro just chuckled. "No, I'm not your owner. I'm your teacher from now on."

"WHAT?!" Asta freaked out. "But I suck at learning! I don't want a teacher! Math sucks! Reading sucks! Writing sucks! It all sucks! And I suck at all of that!"

Sojiro sweat-dropped. _Dealing with this one is a much different experience from dealing with Ruby and Izuku._ He noted.

"Asta, I'm not here to teach you school-related matters like that." Sojiro assured him.

Sojiro then gave Asta a smirk as Asta's eyes went wide. "I'm here to help you grow with your power even further beyond your normal levels. Starting today, I'm your teacher in battle."

Meanwhile, back at the Magic Knights' headquarters…

"And that's the situation in a nutshell." Julius Novachrono explained. "The Spade and Heart Kingdoms have now officially closed their borders. Nobody is getting in or out of those kingdoms. Something has scared them terribly. I'll be explaining this matter again to everyone else who needs to hear it."

All the remaining Magic Knight Captains were gazing at Julius, pale with worry. Even Mereoleona and Jack were concerned. "I apologize to all of you." Julius told them. "I fear that my past is beginning to catch up to me now that I no longer have the strength to back up my title as Wizard King."

"So, how long do we have?" Charlotte inquired.

"Hard to say." Julius sighed. "For starters, I've only recently received reports that Heaven has been sighted in the skies once more. Other than that, activity has been...quiet, as though it were still a ghost town as a result of my actions years ago."

"So then it's just a floating fortress without anyone operating it." Rill offered.

"Rill, Heaven is only capable of floating as long as people with tremendous mana reserves are operating it." Julius grimly explained. "Someone is controlling the fortress known as Heaven...even if it is unlikely, all I can do is pray that it is not a remnant from long ago."

"What about the other threat you mentioned to us: the Judges." Mereoleona inquired. "No offense, but they seem to be more of an immediate threat."

"Well, ranking really doesn't matter." Julius admitted. "Both present a clear and present danger to Clover Kingdom, and I fear that we may lack the power to fight them, especially if they have, by chance, allied with these foes that Sojiro mentioned to us."

"I think Lady Mereoleona's concern is that the Judges could hold kingdom secrets, and could therefore strike from the shadows without us knowing." Kaiser pointed out.

"Mereoleona is right to be concerned in that regard, but I want you all to understand something." Julius said with a grim expression. "As far as magic goes, both groups are equal."

"The fact that both required action on your part years ago should tell us as much." Charlotte noted. "If only Yami and Vangeance were with us right now, they'd be able to tell us a bit more."

"I kept both Yami and William out of these matters." Julius shook his head. "The less I involved the people of this kingdom, the more I become the hated party."

"You took on their hatred for us." Dorothy realized. "Lord Julius…"

"Yeah, but now you don't have the power to fight back against that hate." Jack folded his arms. "Lord Julius, I think you're a freaking moron."

"Maybe you're right." Julius laughed bitterly. "However, all I can do now is prepare my Magic Knights for the possibility of having to pay for my sins in my place. Unfortunately we have not been able to get a lock on either Heaven or the Judges' locations. But I have some trusted associates on the matter, so please remain posted, and-"

"Lord Julius!" Marx suddenly came rushing in the room.

"What is it, Marx?" Julius asked in concern.

"Troubling news sir, from the Diamond Kingdom." Marx looked as frantic as he sounded.

Julius's eyes widened. "What happened?"

"Apparently there was a coup, sir." Marx explained. "The kingdom has fallen to a sudden change in regime."

Julius thought back to a mission report he had received from the Black Bulls on the Forest of Witches. "Was the perpetrator of this coup Mars of the Eight Shining Generals?" He asked. "If so, perhaps we can open talks with a new partnership with the Diamond Kingdom? Mars is apparently a friend of Asta's, after all."

Marx shook his head. "Sir, General Mars wasn't responsible for the coup." He said. "In fact, the reports I received...said he tried to fight against it."

"What? Explain." Julius ordered.

"The perpetrator of the coup...and I still can't believe this myself, was the crown prince of the Diamond Kingdom, Andros Painite, now King Andros Painite Diamond V."

"That's impossible." Julius shook his head. "Prince Andros died of illness five years ago."

"I know, but Sir, reports say that Prince Andros was the name the rebels chanted as stormed the castle...and what's more, I received more reports that it was Prince Andros himself, alive and well who took the head of his father and presented it to the people." Marx explained. "I really don't know how it's possible, Lord Julius, but Prince Andros is alive."

Julius thought it over. "It always was so suspicious." He admitted to himself. "Prince Andros, before his 'death' had been touted as a strong, healthy young man...a death due to illness was...Marx, have our spies in the Diamond Kingdom continue monitoring this situation. Report any developments to me."

"Yes Sir." Marx bowed before racing out of the room.

"What does all this mean, Lord Julius?" Charlotte asked.

"It means that our world is about to go through a massive change." Julius sighed.

Elsewhere, in the Diamond Kingdom, a hulking behemoth of a man was stepping outside of the capital's gates. A single, obsidian-colored axe hung from his grip at his side. His pitch black hair and crimson red eyes shone brightly in the sun. "Glad to be out of that damn meeting." He grinned. "Now to get back to that which is actually worthwhile!"

The behemoth was flanked by three individuals in shorter stature, all concealed by black cloaks. "Agreed, politics is more the archbishop's speed...or the matriarch's. I don't know why they thought we were meant to negotiate anything." The center one commented.

"The archbishop is always busy preaching and the matriarch has her own duties." The leftwards individual responded.

"Nevermind that, what is our next objective, Cardinal Yakuma?"

Yakuma, the Cardinal of Destruction, pointed his axe ahead of him in a particular direction. "Isn't it obvious?!" He exclaimed. "It's time we see just makes the Clover Kingdom so special. Those who evade destruction are special cases that have earned special treatment."

"I will grant every last one of them death befitting strong individuals such as them. Destruction at the hands of an apex predator!"

 **A.N: You know, I'll admit, when I first started Black Clover, I was among the haters (because it was the memetic thing to do, you know). But I must say, it really grew on me. The characters are extremely likable, especially those goofy, goofy Black Bulls. Also, Noelle is a fantastic female lead. Hope everyone enjoyed this double release. See you all next time.**


	15. Chapter 15: Big Announcement

Hello everyone. This message will most likely be overdue by the time I post this, but all the same, Merry Christmas. Obviously, this is not a chapter. Rather, it is an incredibly exciting announcement that I have been looking forward to sharing with you all.

After years of writing, editing, and rewriting, my very first original novel: **Age of Heroes: The Hero and the Disciple** , has been published onto Amazon's Kindle Store. Book 1 of what I hope to be a long and enjoyable series. It is a YA Fantasy novel that is basically my love letter to all the anime that had inspired me during my teen years.

It is the tale of two young men and their journeys. One, a meek blacksmith's apprentice lacking the confidence to chase his dream of heroism. The other, an eccentric hero who travels the land taking jobs for cheap wages.

The entire process was long, but extremely rewarding. And if you all have been enjoying my fanfiction, I think you will enjoy my first ever published, original work. The first of many, I hope.

You will find it if you search my pen name: Nicholas Drew, in the Kindle Store. For only $7.99, the book is yours, electronically. If you would prefer hard copies though, I'll be working on getting paperbacks printed as well.

It would mean the world to me if you would consider checking out and hopefully buying my book. Also, consider leaving positive reviews as well, via Amazon. Positive reviews help me gain more traction online, but any feedback as to where I can improve can be sent to this account via personal message.

I want to thank everyone for all the support they've given me over the years, whether it was through kind words or encouragement. I doubt I could've persevered without it. And of course, I also must give glory to God. Through Him, I was blessed with such a wonderful talent to use in His honor.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I look forward to seeing you all over at Amazon. Again, that is **Age of Heroes: The Hero and the Disciple, by Nicholas Drew** on the Amazon Kindle Store.


	16. Chapter 16: Moments Like These

**A.N: Happy new year, everyone. Holy smokes, 2020. So first of all, super big announcement for anyone who missed it. Age of Heroes: The Hero and the Disciple, is now available on Amazon's Kindle Store, under my pen name, Nicholas Drew. for $7.99, the book is yours. Once you read, please remember to leave positive reviews to help me gain traction on the site. Anything on where I can improve can be sent via PM as always, as I'm always looking to improve.**

 **Also, I want to make a personal offer to any artists out there. If anyone wants to perhaps draw cover pages for the works I have on this site, or even just fanart of scenes and characters, just PM me and we will discuss the details.** **I'll of course do my best to advertise the images on my profile and in my chapters when they are done.** **It's the New Year folks, so I want to do a few things differently, rather than just stay stagnant.**

 **But enough plugging and offering. Another double release of the Black Clover Part of the prologue today. What can I say, super inspired on the War of Discoveries Prologue lately. Enjoy!**

 **Chapter 15: Moments Like These**

In unison, the jaws of the entire Black Bulls squad (sans Yami Sukehiro, of course) dropped to the floor. "EH?!" They all yelled in disbelief.

Yami gazed at his old mentor, Julius Novachrono, with an irritated expression on his face. "I freaking knew it." He claimed before looking at the sheepish group of 'foreigners'. "No way was this old geezer an old friend of yours. You always kept your friends close. If he really was a 'personal friend' of yours, I'd have met him by now."

Julius laughed at this. "Well, thank you for keeping quiet while our plan had been put into motion, Yami." He said gratefully. "The success of the plan had hinged on them buying the idea of the Grandmaster being a close, personal friend of mine."

"Whoa whoa whoa!" Asta yelled. "So, this old man isn't some old friend of yours?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying, Asta." Julius sweat-dropped. Asta still was a little slow on the uptake. "Although, after everything, I do hope that the grandmaster would consider me a friend...in spite of the best efforts of the Magic Parliament and Damnatio."

"I despise upstarts who think they're better than everyone else, Julius. I have way too many bad memories of dealing with people like them." Sojiro bitterly admitted before smiling. "You're not like that. I would be happy to consider you as one of my friends."

"Wonderful!" Julius said giddily before stars appeared in his eyes. "If that's the case, you have to allow me to examine you! I must find out the secrets behind your 'energy'."

Sojiro laughed. "Maybe later," he promised.

"So, wait, it's all true?" Vanessa Enoteca still could not believe what Julius had explained to them all. "Grandmaster Sojiro and these others are from a different world?"

"Different worlds, Ms. Vanessa." Noriko corrected. "The Grandmaster, Shogo, and myself are from the same world. But Ruby and Izuku here are from different worlds that we had visited earlier. That's the thing, there's more than just two worlds, there are hundreds out there."

"And you just believed it...just like that?" Zora Ideale groaned. "Never change, you crazy-ass Wizard King."

"Zora," Julius said, "you should sense it just like everyone else here. They don't possess magic, they possess something quite different...four of them do anyway. Izuku has nothing."

"Yeah...but, I like to believe that I can still hang with you guys in a fight." Izuku sheepishly muttered. "I mean, I'm nowhere near the Grandmaster and Shogo, but I think I'm pretty strong."

Luck Voltia laughed as electricity crackled around his body. "I can sense it, Wizard King!" Luck giddily declared. "They're not like us at all! But they're still super strong!"

"Geez," Magna Swing muttered, "if Luck's agreeing with this. It's gotta be true. His sensory abilities surpass even most royals."

"This is still so unreal," Noelle Silva was still in shock, "other worlds different from ours. This is straight out of the most outlandish of fairy tales."

"Yeah, but even fairy tales can sometimes have a little bit of truth to them." Ruby spoke up sagely. "I'm just now learning that myself."

"Forget fairy tales and the truth, the important thing is that they're super strong!" Luck excitedly yelled before bounding up to the otherworlders. "Please, you gotta fight me! My favorite thing in the world is fighting, next to my friends of course! Don't worry, it won't be to the death! I used to love it when they were do or die, but since you helped out Asta, I don't wanna kill you!"

"Whoa, you're a motormouth." Noriko muttered.

"Huh," Ruby gazed at Luck in surprise.

"What is it, Ruby?" Izuku asked curiously.

"You mean you don't hear it? When he talks, he weirdly sounds just like you." Ruby pointed out. "Personality wise, you guys couldn't be more different, and yet…"

"Really?" Izuku looked at Luck. "Er...what do you think? Do you think Ruby's right? Do you think we sound alike?"

"Hmm...I don't know if I really hear it." Luck folded his arms.

"Actually, I think I do." Izuku's eyes widened. "Whoa, that is so crazy."

Luck frowned before an idea came to him. "I know!" He said excitedly. "How about you say something that I would say? That should help!"

"Er...okay." Izuku shrugged. "Um...hey, let's fight! Not to the death, since you helped my friend. But let's give it our all regardless!"

Luck laughed and clapped his hands together. "Hey!" He cheered. "I totally hear it now! We do sound a lot alike. That's so weird, but so cool!"

"Hey, hey, hey!" Finral Roulacesse yelled with a frightened look on his face. "Can we please stop focusing on this stuff and address the elephant in the room! Like, I don't know, the danger the Grandmaster was talking about when he told us about all this otherworld stuff!"

"That was pretty scary." Gordon Agrippa muttered quietly.

"That's right," Vanessa folded her arms, "Grandmaster, when you told us the truth, you also explained that enemies from your world had also come here? Could you please expand on that?"

"It's just as I said. They're an old doomsday-bringing cult that waged war against my kingdom thousands of years ago." Sojiro explained. "They're known as the Cult of the End. Now, the good news is that after their original defeat, this version is far weaker than the original group. The bad news, sadly, is that they are still a threat to worlds like yours. I think...they're after you for that reason."

"They're just a bunch of schoolyard bullies." Noriko spat in disgust before sighing. "But unfortunately, they're still very good at their duty in bringing about the end of the universe. Which means we need to take them seriously, and gather allies to fight them."

"If they really are that much of a threat, even after gathering allies, then we need to prepare for war immediately." Julius noted. "Grandmaster, you've held up your end of the bargain with Asta. I'll now hold up mine and aid you in this battle with my Magic Knights. If these people are threatening Clover Kingdom's safety, I must be ready to do my part."

"As much as I appreciate that, you need to convince your Magic Knights to fight first." Sojiro pointed out. "I won't ask you to fight a war without their support."

"Well, you've got our support." Sojiro turned to see Yami, grinning in anticipation for the battle to come. "Even if Lord Julius can't rally the rest of the Magic Knights to your cause, know that you've got the Black Bulls on your side."

"Is that so?" Sojiro raised a surprised eyebrow at Yami's statement. "Even if Julius told you not to fight because the rest of the Magic Knights do not wish it?"

"The Black Bulls are already the worst of the worst." Yami reminded Sojiro. "Not like we give a damn about our reputation. But we do give a damn about this world. We live in it, after all."

"It's a man's duty to fight and protect." Magna noted with a grin. "And I can't think of anything manlier than fighting for and protecting the whole damn universe."

"If I come with you guys, I'm bound to fight some super strong fighters!" Luck cheered. "So you can count me in, Mr. Grandmaster!"

"If they destroy the world, I won't be able to eat all the yummy food." Charmy Pappitson pointed out with a vicious gaze. "I'll destroy _them_ before that happens!"

"You guys did help out Asta earlier, so I'd be more than happy to help." Vanessa said with a smile. "And I'm sure Henry would say the same if he wasn't resting up at the base."

"I'd like to be friends with you guys, after all you did to help." Gordon was surprisingly speaking clearly. "Please, let me help now."

"This is all very scary...but I'll do my best too." Grey promised.

"I can't believe I'm about to say this...but I'm Captain Yami's taxi, so I've got no choice but to give my all to help as well." Finral said with a weak smile. "Don't know how much help I'll be, but I'll do my best. After all, like Vanessa said, you helped out Asta."

"If they destroy the world, they'll destroy my precious Marie too!" Gauche Adlai, like Charmy, had a very vicious gaze in his eyes too. For a much creepier reason, by the way. "So I'll fight for her sake!"

Zora heaved a sigh. "Might as well fight with ya bastards." He conceded. "If I do that, I can show these Magic Knight jerks what a real knight looks like."

"I'll gladly fight with my friends, and to show that members of royalty are ready to do their part as well." Noelle promised.

Sojiro gaped at the resolve of the Black Bulls before laughing heartily. "What good fortune that I would stumble across a group such as yourselves." He noted. "It's like I'm back home in Menou."

Secre Swallowtail remained silently as her 'squad' effectively declared war on this unknown enemy of theirs. Asta, meanwhile, gave Sojiro a determined smile. "Grandmaster," he said, "I'll give my all as well."

"So you hold the same feelings as your comrades do, Asta?" Sojiro inquired.

Asta nodded. "You bet," he said, "I'll give my all to protect this kingdom, the world, and every other world out there too."

"After all," Asta gestured to himself, "you're looking at the man who's going to become the next Wizard King. Never forget that!"

"A Wizard King that can't use magic?" Noriko raised an eyebrow at Asta's declaration. The Travelers knew this because none of them could sense any magic from Asta.

"Damn straight!" Asta grinned. "Even if I don't have any magic, I will become the Wizard King. That's simply something I won't give up on."

"And not to sound like I'm just repeating everyone else, but you guys really came through for me back there, all of you did, and you didn't even know me." Asta gave a gentle smile. "Thanks, really. I owe you guys, and since you plan to help protect my world, that means I owe you, like, ten times over."

"So I'm in!" Asta declared. "I'll help you guys in this war of yours."

Sojiro gazed at Asta and sighed. "This is hell you're walking into, I hope you know that." He told him. "Asta, I don't know what kind of enemies you've fought against, but this is unlike anything you've ever experienced."

"My mind's made up." Asta insisted. "I'm going to protect my world from these guys."

"Even though your world doesn't care about you?" Ruby raised an eyebrow at Asta's declaration. "No offense, Asta, but after what that parliament tried to do to you…"

Asta's face fell at this. After a moment of silence, he responded. "Yeah, you're right." He said. "What they did to me...I should be mad about it. And I guess I kinda am."

"So why then?" Ruby asked curiously.

Asta gave Ruby a gaze of pure resolve. "Because I don't have to be like them. I've been dealing with adversity my whole life. Whether it's because I'm a peasant from the Forsaken Region, or because I don't have any magic."

"Whatever has happened to me and whatever will happen to me, I don't have to let it break me, I don't have to let it change who I am." Asta explained. "I'm me, and I'm always going to be me, no matter what the world throws at me."

"So I'm going to protect this world and everyone in it with everything I've got. Because that's what _I_ want to do."

Noriko could not help but smile. "This kid…" she mused, impressed by his resolve.

"So heroic!" Shogo said with manly tears in his eyes.

Julius could not help but smile as well. "Well, hopefully it won't be just you." He said. "Well, Sojiro, it appears that regardless of what happens, you have a volunteer army in the form of the Black Bulls. No matter what happens, I will allow them to join your crusade against these villains."

"Oh, good so we won't be named deserters." Finral heaved a sigh of relief before laughing.

"So, when do we start old man?" Yami asked Sojiro.

"Not now, I'm afraid," Sojiro shook his head, "we need to spend a bit more time in this world, to make sure that the Cult hasn't actually set up a base of power in this world yet."

"They most likely have, is the thing." Noriko heaved a sigh. "These guys...I didn't get to experience them in their prime, but the history textbooks in my kingdom describe them as locusts. They swarm from world to world until there's nothing left."

"Spooky." Grey muttered.

"So, we need to better analyze the situation around us, monitor the area and try to find any traces of our enemies." Sojiro explained. "It's probably best we remain here for the time being though."

"Oh?" Julius raised a curious eyebrow.

"The capital seems to be this country's base of power." Sojiro explained. "That means, they'll come after this place first."

"The Grandmaster's right, because they're much weaker than they were before, they're going to go after the heart of a world first." Noriko explained. "When they attacked Ruby's world, they went after an important relic she was trying to keep safe."

"And when they went after my world, they attacked my country, Japan." Izuku explained. "Japan is considered the heart of heroism, since we have the greatest hero, All Might. If you destroy Japan, you basically send a message that says the whole world is doomed."

"Which means if they are here, then the capital will be attacked first." Sojiro revealed.

"Is there any way to prepare?" Julius inquired.

Sojiro sighed. "I'm afraid not," he admitted, "these people most likely come directly from the Void, the space that connects worlds. If they are already here, they can summon reinforcements at any time. Unless we have their exact location, there is nothing we can do but wait for them to attack first. Your men need to be ready to defend the capital."

Julius thought back to Marx' report on the Diamond Kingdom. He then spoke up. "Very well, Sojiro, I'll give the order that the Magic Knights are to remain prepared for any possible attacks."

Julius then gave Sojiro's group and the Black Bulls a gentle smile. "But in spite of that, you should take some time to yourselves. Celebrate this victory you all achieved today." He ordered.

Yami then stepped forward. "Before we go though, I've got one last thing I'd like to say. It's...a request, if you're willing to hear it, Gramps."

"Oh, and what would that be?" Sojiro inquired curiously. Julius looked at Yami quizzically as well.

"Your world...how advanced is it in terms of power and medical usage?"

"I like to believe that we are among the most advanced civilizations in the entire universe as far as those two fields go." Sojiro responded. "Although, I also like to believe we do constantly strive to better ourselves."

"If that's the case, do you have anything that would help Lord Julius?" Yami inquired in a serious tone of voice.

"I'm not sure I follow." Sojiro admitted.

"Lord Julius, as I'm sure you know, is supposed to be much older. But after an...incident, he was aged to a brat and now most of his power is gone." Yami explained.

"So that's it," Sojiro muttered.

"Well, do you have anything that could get him back to the way he was?" Yami asked. "This kingdom needs his power if we're going to go to war soon."

"Yami…" Julius muttered in surprise.

Sojiro sighed. "Well, I do have a few of these Time Seals, as we refer to them in Menou. But based on what you have explained to me, I don't think it will work on him."

"Why the hell not?" Yami demanded.

"You see, Time Seals rewind someone's power back a specified time. For example, I rewound a man's power back to his prime, before an injury ruined his career. However, that is the key word is 'rewind'. That means, I can only move backwards, not forwards."

"Still don't follow." Yami admitted. "Should still work, shouldn't it? I mean, Lord Julius just has to be rewound to before all this crap went down."

"Well, for starters, if I rewound him to just before, he wouldn't have long." Sojiro explained. "Time Seals are temporary. So I would have to rewind him to when he first hit the prime of his strength."

"But I can't rewind Julius because he has already rewound himself." Sojiro explained, making Yami's eyes widen. "I'm sorry, but it just wouldn't work. Time Seals can't move someone's body and power forward because we don't know how much life someone has left in their body. We can only move them backwards. And considering that Time Seals are designed to be temporary, I cannot risk what would happen if a Time Seal's power ran out after forwarding someone in time. God only knows what would happen."

"I'm afraid...Julius is stuck like this for the time being." Sojiro sadly admitted. "I'm sorry. I agree that his power would be quite useful. But I'm afraid getting him back to the way he was is simply impossible."

Yami lowered his head at this. Julius gave Yami a sad smile. "I appreciate your concern, Yami, I really do."

"I'm sorry, Julius." Sojiro said.

"Don't be," Julius said before his curiosity got the better of him, "though if you don't mind me asking, how many more of those seals do you have?"

"Four more." Sojiro responded.

"Would you allow me to borrow one for a bit? I would very much like to study some technology from your world. Perhaps it would allow me to unlock the secrets of the energy you refer to as Reiki." Julius eagerly requested.

"I see no issue with that." Sojiro pulled out a scroll and handed it to Julius.

Julius's eyes lit up. "Wonderful!" He squealed. "Simply wonderful! An actual piece of technology from a different world, powered by a completely different energy source! This is a discovery for the ages!"

Julius then gazed at Yami, who still looked down. "Yami, listen to me, don't sulk. It's just not you." He said. "Right now, as Wizard King, I'm ordering you to enjoy your time with your squad and our new friends."

"Sir…" Yami said softly.

"Yami, everything will work out the way it's meant to." Julius promised him. "Now please, you've never needed an excuse to knock one back and party."

Yami chuckled at Julius encouraging him to party before letting out a full blown belly laugh. "You know what, you're absolutely right! Okay, maggots, it's time to party!"

"Ha! Now we're talking! Captain Yami is right as always! Magna exclaimed. "We absolutely need to party! A party to celebrate Asta and Secre's freedom! And the inclusion of five honorary members into our squad!"

"Eh? Honorary members?" Ruby and Izuku said in surprise.

Vanessa laughed and threw her arms around Izuku and Ruby. Izuku blushed at Vanessa's revealing attire. "Of course you're honorary members, you five helped one of our own, so that makes you one of us now." She explained.

"Grandmaster, should we be celebrating?" Noriko asked curiously. "This seems rather unwise."

Sojiro shook his head. "We can't do anything without any leads. And since this is the most likely place they'd attack, we need to be close by if they do act. It may be best that we take a break and try to enjoy ourselves."

"Julius, are you absolutely certain there are no reports of mass killings in this kingdom?" Sojiro asked.

Julius shook his head. "Nothing happens in this kingdom without my knowledge, Sojiro." He promised. "And I have received no reports on mass killings."

"Very well then, Yami, please take us to your headquarters." Sojiro requested.

"Vanessa, you guide our new allies to the base. Finral, take me back to headquarters so I can tell Henry to bring the building here." Yami ordered.

"Yes sir!" Finral saluted as a portal opened up.

"Whoa, a space-user!" Noriko exclaimed.

"Can't take all of you unfortunately." Finral sheepishly admitted. "I'll see you all at the base. Vanessa, we're leaving everyone else to you."

Finral and Yami entered Finral's portal. Vanessa smiled and gestured for everyone to follow her. Upon everyone exiting, Julius heaved a sigh, already guilty at having to tell his new friend a half truth. At that moment, Marx Francois stepped up to his boss. "Lord Julius," he said, "why didn't you tell them about what happened to the Diamond Kingdom? You do realize this might involve this cult that the Grandmaster warned us about."

"We still don't have all the information yet, Marx." Julius reminded him. "I cannot declare war on an entire kingdom based on the possibility that they are being helped by a genocidal cult."

"Lord Julius, General Mars is Asta's friend, is he not? Don't you think at least Asta deserves to know?" Marx asked.

"It's because he's his friend that I could not tell him." Julius sadly admitted. "Marx, there's nothing Asta can do. If I told him, he'd just go rushing in and try to fight the entire Diamond Kingdom to save his friend. Admirable as that may be...he'll only get himself killed and then the Clover Kingdom will have lost one of its finest. Whatever is happening to the Diamond Kingdom...I'm afraid I must concern myself with the people of this kingdom first."

"And if Asta and the others lose faith in you?" Marx inquired. "If the grandmaster loses his faith in you?"

"I'll take responsibility and all their anger." Julius promised. "But Sojiro is right about one thing, this place will be their first target. They'll try to decapitate the kingdom by destroying the capital first. So we need all of the Magic Knights here."

"And after everything they've been through, I'd rather they had a chance to rest. They'll work themselves to death at this rate." Julius pointed out.

"But Sir, what if you're wrong?"

"I pray to God that I'm not." Julius responded. "The last thing I want is for this kingdom to suffer for my mistakes. I don't even want other kingdoms to suffer."

"But as we are now, we don't have the strength to fight a war with another kingdom, especially if they are being aided by someone that dangerous. Or rather, we don't have the strength to make the first move. As much as I am pained to admit it...we need to allow them to make the first move here. At least here, we have home field advantage…"

Marx gazed at Julius, noticing how sad and frustrated he seemed. _I see, it must now be truly hitting Lord Julius. He's useless now, as far as power goes. He's...the weakest Wizard King in history. And it's killing him to truly realize that._

"Anyway, Marx," Julius' voice cut Marx from his thoughts, "are you willing to go on an assignment for me?"

"And leave you alone, Lord Julius?" Marx balked at the idea.

"Yes," Julius nodded, "because this is important. Out of everyone, you're the one I trust the most to complete this assignment for me."

Marx gaped at Julius. A part of him wanted to be touched that the Wizard King trusted him so. However, he was also curious. Just what was it that Julius wanted him to do?

A few hours later, the rest of the Black Bulls and their new honorary members were at the Black Bulls' headquarters. Ruby and Izuku gaped in shock as the giant house-mech thing transformed back into a regular building.

"It's not much, but it's home." Said Magna.

"Not much?!" Ruby and Izuku exclaimed in unison.

"Home sweet home." Asta grinned. "I was honestly a little worried I wouldn't see it again after the trial."

Yami and Finral came walking out of the front door. "Hey, Charmy!" Yami called out to the food-lover of the Black Bulls. "Want to get some grub whipped up for us? I think after everything, we've earned a big linner."

"Aye aye, Captain!" Charmy excitedly saluted. "You're speaking my language!"

Charmy ran into a clearing and quickly activated her magic. "Cotton Creation Magic: Sheep Cook!" She yelled as giant balls of cotton quickly formed into two sheep dressed like chefs.

"Whoa!" Ruby and Izuku exclaimed, mesmerized by Charmy's magic.

"That is so cool!" Ruby squealed.

Vanessa laughed. "You two really don't have magic in your world, huh? If you think what Charmy does is amazing, you haven't seen anything yet."

"Well, we do have magic," Ruby admitted, "it's just...well, super rare. Only like...six people at a time can have it."

"Okay!" Charmy clapped her hands together. "We're going to make the ultimate linner in celebration of Asta and Secre's freedom and in celebration of our five new honorary members."

"Honorary members," Sojiro chuckled, "I'm not sure how I should feel about this. My loyalty is to my homeland first and foremost after all."

Yami laughed at Sojiro's behavior. "Ah, just go with it old man." He said, clapping him on the back. "My squad's super grateful for all you did for our two problem children, so just let us repay you. And let us call you members of our group."

"If you say so, Captain Yami." Sojiro conceded on the matter.

"Ah, just call me Yami." Yami grinned. "Considering Lord Julius has you on a first name basis with him, I can do the same. It'd be weird hearing someone old enough to be my grandpa calling me 'captain.'"

"Julius said something quite similar." Sojiro noted.

"Of course he did." Yami rolled his eyes at his mentor and benefactor's quirkiness before addressing Charmy. "Oi, Charmy, how long's the chow going to be?"

"A bit, since I'm really going all out on this feast, Captain!" Charmy admitted. "We're going to have the biggest, bestest linner in the whole kingdom!"

"Bestest isn't really a word…" Noriko sweat-dropped.

"Party time!" Shogo cheered, with the rest of the Black Bulls (sans the stoic Secre) all cheering in agreement.

An hour later, Charmy had finished her giant feast for her squad. And with that, the Black Bulls and their five honorary members, spent their time gorging themselves on the delicious meal, enjoying each other's company, and getting to know these foreigners that had saved their beloved squadmates from the law.

As the party continued, Noriko and Vanessa found themselves drinking together, laughing about the idiotic antics of their male friends. Shogo ended up sparring with an excited Luck (Shogo was winning). Sojiro and Yami were watching the antics of their subordinates.

And Asta? Asta had slowly begun to gravitate towards Ruby and Izuku. And by the time the clock had struck 7, he found himself opening up more and more to these two eerily similar individuals.

"So, heroes, huh?" Asta looked at the two of them. "You two want to be heroes?"

"That is the dream." Izuku admitted. "I've admired heroes ever since I was little."

"Same, I guess I just gravitated towards them." Ruby added. "One thing led to another and then...well, I'm sure you get it."

"I think so." Asta shrugged. "I mean, I was an orphan. I grew up in a church in a village out in the Forsaken Region...the area that's insanely poor and pretty much ignored by everyone else."

"But...it was also the site of the first Wizard King's battle with a devil that tried to destroy our kingdom." Asta remembered the monument to the first Wizard King. "I always loved that story. He was probably the greatest hero this kingdom ever knew."

 _And he was a great man who matched that legend._ Asta remembered actually getting to meet the first Wizard King. _That's a legend...I need to match and surpass._

Asta chuckled. "I guess...I sort of gravitated towards heroism as well." He admitted. "I at first wanted to be just like the first Wizard King, for Sister Lily, my rival Yuno, and all the little kids at the church."

"But then...I kinda realized what I really wanted." Asta continued. "I didn't just want to be like the Wizard King...I wanted to _be_ the Wizard King."

"When I'm Wizard King, I'm going to change this country." Asta revealed. "I'm going to make this a country where everyone smiles and has a full belly after a meal. It won't matter if you're a noble or a commoner. This will be a country for everyone."

"A country for everyone…" Izuku mused.

"That sounds lovely." Ruby said with a smile on her face.

"You think so, huh?" Asta rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "People used to laugh at that dream...some still do. For many reasons. I had no magic, I was just a commoner, I'm an idiot, that kind of stuff."

"But, like I told you back at Lord Julius' office." Asta grinned. "I've been living with adversity since the day I was born. No matter what I run into, I'm going to keep pushing forward. It was my dream that made me realize that possibilities exist in everyone as long as they chase it, after all. It was my dream that kept me going when things got rough."

Izuku grinned. "Now that I understand."

"You do?" Asta was surprised.

"The thing is, Asta, I was just like you once." Izuku sadly admitted. "I was born without power, just like you. It was...awful, honestly. In a world where most people have superpowers, those who don't are pretty much second-class citizens in all but name."

"Izuku…" Ruby was shocked at this.

"But...I didn't want to give up either. My dream to be a hero was all that kept me going as well." Izuku revealed. "I took notes, studied heroes every day, I wanted to prove that I could be a hero without a Quirk."

"But, fate kinda threw a curveball, and I ended up inheriting the strongest Quirk in my world." Izuku chuckled. "Now I've gotta work hard to make it my own."

"No kidding," Asta was shocked. "You really were just like me then."

Izuku nodded. Asta could not help but smile. "That...actually kinda makes me happy." He admitted. "Knowing there are other people who went through the things I went through, and knowing they didn't give up either. That actually really makes me happy."

"Wait, hold on a minute." Ruby spoke up. "If you can't use magic, what was that black form of yours? And that sword?"

"Oh, that? It's not magic." Asta replied. "It's actually anti-magic."

"Anti-magic?" Ruby and Izuku said in confusion.

"Mmm hmm, my swords can cancel out and cut through magic." Asta explained, brandishing his five-leaf clover grimoire. "I can also envelop my whole body in anti-magic for a boost in power. It allows me to hone in on magic and my opponents, but I can't really maintain the form for too long."

One of Asta's anti-magic swords then came out of his grimoire. "So, my weapon of choice is usually these bad boys." Asta explained.

"That's incredible." Izuku said breathlessly.

Stars appeared in Ruby's eyes as she gazed at Asta's sword. "Whoa," she said, "an anti-magic sword. Could I...could I please hold it for just a moment?"

Asta gazed at Ruby in shock. She was acting just like the Wizard King did. "Uh, yeah, sure, go for it." He said, offering the sword to Ruby.

Ruby eagerly took the sword for Asta. "Thank you so much, Asta-" Ruby began before feeling the weight of the blade hit her.

"Whoa man!" Ruby exclaimed in shock as the blade hit the floor due to its sheer weight.

"Are you okay, Ruby?" Izuku asked in concern.

"That's insane," Ruby shook her head in disbelief, "I can't believe you can swing this thing around Asta. I mean, my Crescent Rose is pretty heavy and tough to use, but I can still swing her around just fine. But this...this weight is unbelievable."

Asta grinned. "Well, not to brag, but I've got some pretty impressive muscles." He said as he flexed his biceps.

Behind Asta, Noelle turned into a bright red mess at the sight of Asta's biceps. Izuku hummed thoughtfully. "Maybe it's not just the weight?" He offered. "Maybe the blade can only be wielded by Asta since it's his power?"

"Well, there was a guy who took one of my swords." Asta admitted, taking his sword back from Ruby. "And he wielded it just fine. Then again, that might be because he was the original wielder of my grimoire and swords."

Ruby pouted, making Izuku sweat-drop. "What are you thinking, Ruby?" He asked.

"I'm going to find a way to wield that sword, Izuku." Ruby said with a determined expression. "Just you wait!"

"Hey, come on, you've got your scythe." Izuku tried to placate her. "That's Asta's sword. You shouldn't try to wield it."

"But I wanna!" Ruby whined as she waved her arms like a child throwing a temper tantrum. "I wanna! I wanna! I wanna! I wanna!"

Asta laughed at Ruby and Izuku's behavior. While they were on the subject of Asta's powers though, Izuku had one more thing he wanted to discuss with him. "Hey, Asta, what about the fact that all those people think you're a devil?"

Asta fell silent at this. Izuku gasped, realizing he may have overstepped his boundaries. "Er...sorry, did I…"

"No, it's fine, you've got a right to know since we're friends now." Asta smiled. "Here's the thing, I'm human, but it looks like I've got some kind of devil living inside of my grimoire...or maybe he's even living inside of me."

"An actual devil?" Ruby was shocked at this.

Asta nodded. "He's part of the reason why I'm able to surround myself with anti-magic." He explained. "But that's all I know about him. I don't know his name, or how he ended up inside of me. It's...kind of a mystery."

"But, mind if I ask you guys something?" Asta spoke up. "You didn't seem scared of me when you first saw me, even though I was in that form. So why?"

Izuku had a sheepish expression on his face. "Truth be told, I was a little intimidated at first. But then...I guess my love of Quirks kinda kicked in. When I looked at you, all I saw was someone with a Transformation or Mutation-type Quirk." He explained.

"The thing is, Asta, there are so many people who could qualify as 'freaks' in my world." Izuku admitted. "But they're not. They're people like you and me."

Izuku laughed. "I've gotten so used to seeing people like you, that after I got over the initial shock, you kinda just became any other Quirk-user I've known in my life that's a mutation or can transform."

"And...what about you, Ruby?" Asta asked curiously.

Ruby rubbed the back of her head. Somehow, she looked even more sheepish than Izuku. "Well, I wasn't even looking at you." She admitted. "All I saw was that awesome sword of yours."

"But honestly, I'm kinda in the same boat as Izuku. We have these people called Faunus in my world, who have animalistic traits. And they're people like us. One of my best friends is a Faunus." She explained.

Ruby then smiled. "But most importantly, and I think Izuku can attest to this, but after I got over my excitement over your sword, I noticed something."

"What's that?" Asta inquired.

"That little girl, you were protecting her from those jerks." Ruby reminded him. "I think I kinda came to a decision as soon as I saw that. I saw...that there was no way you could be a bad person. Certainly not the monster all those people are trying to paint you as. Not if you were willing to risk everything to protect that little girl."

Izuku grinned. "Yeah, I feel the same way." He admitted. "You threw yourself around that little girl to protect her without any regard for yourself. They say that when heroes start out...their bodies move on their own as they act to save someone or defeat a villain. I think...that's what you were doing. So like Ruby said...I just don't think there's any way you can be a bad person when you do something like that."

Asta gazed at Ruby and Izuku in shock. "I'm really glad the Grandmaster got us involved in that trial," Izuku admitted, "it meant getting to meet you, after all."

Asta got over his shock and smiled, lowering his head. He felt emotions overwhelm him. "You know," he said, "because of how I grew up...I learned not to care too much about what other people thought of me."

"But when I saw you two...two complete strangers. I just couldn't help it. I couldn't help worrying what you thought of me when you saw me...like that." Asta admitted.

"But you didn't think anything of it." Asta wiped a tear from his eye. "Ruby...Izuku...thanks, seriously. That really means a lot to me"

Ruby and Izuku smiled back at Asta. Asta then let out a laugh to get over his emotional state. "Man, and to think that was just the beginning, now there are apparently other worlds with people like you two. How did it come to this?"

Asta then gave the two of them a determined smile. "I'm going to repay you two, you hear? And the Grandmaster as well."

"You shouldn't feel indebted to us, Asta." Izuku pointed out.

Asta shook his head. "Then let me just help you as a friend." He said. "I'm going to give all I got and help you guys win against these cultists. I'm with you both, all the way. After all, your worlds need help just as much as mine does, right?"

Ruby and Izuku both nodded. "Then that settles it, no matter how hard things get, know that I'll be right there with you, I'll help you two with whatever you need." Asta promised. "After all, we're friends now."

"Friends, huh?" Ruby smiled at the thought. "I'd like that very much."

Izuku nodded in agreement. Sojiro had trained his gaze on the three young and incredibly similar individuals, watching them bond. "It's nice to see those three have already hit it off so well." Sojiro nodded with a satisfied expression on his face. "Considering they're going to be spending a lot of time together, it would be preferable they got along."

Yami chuckled, still drinking with Sojiro. "You never had a reason to worry. Asta's the kinda guy who can get along with just about everyone. He's an idiot, but he's earnest."

Sojiro laughed. "Is he now? If I had a coin for every time someone described an old friend of mine like that, I'd be a rich man." He mused.

Sojiro then gave Yami a serious expression. "I apologize, though," he said, "I'm sorry I could not do more for Julius. I had figured that something had happened to put him in such a weakened state. I really wish I could do more, but I lack the capabilities to do it. I just hope he's not disappointed when he can't figure out that Time Seal on his own."

Yami grinned. "Don't worry about it," he said, "I'm the one who should be apologizing for putting you on the spot like that."

Yami then sighed. "I guess I just...couldn't really resist the idea of seeing if you otherworlders could help Lord Julius with his problem."

"It sounds like he means a lot to you." Sojiro noted.

Yami paused at this. He then gazed at his sake cup and chuckled. "Sheesh, it must be the booze, but I guess I'm feeling a little compelled to telling you my sad life story." He said.

Sojiro fell silent, respectfully allowing Yami to speak. "I wasn't born in the Clover Kingdom like everyone else. I'm actually a foreigner." Yami admitted. "I come from a country far east, across the sea. One day, I was fishing and then a storm washed me up all the way here."

"People already didn't like me, because it became pretty clear that I was a foreigner." Yami admitted. "Clover Kingdom's always been a little close-minded. Mainly because the nobles ended up getting most of the power and had no intention of letting it go."

"I see." Sojiro mused.

"Things only got worse when I received my grimoire." Yami continued. "And when they discovered I had the 'scary' Dark Magic, well, I'm sure you can guess how public opinion was for me afterwards."

"But...there was one person who wasn't afraid of me. In fact, he was fascinated by me." Yami revealed, smiling fondly at the memory. "That was Lord Julius. Though, he was only a Magic Knight Captain at the time."

"He ran right up to me, and recruited me into the Magic Knights." Yami chuckled. "I told him I would join if he bought me a nice meal. So he did."

"And so, I became Lord Julius' subordinate. He took me in, trained me in properly using my Dark Magic." Yami revealed. "Hell, when he found out I couldn't read Clover Kingdom's language...he actually taught it to me."

"...He sounds like a great man." Sojiro acknowledged.

"Ha, he'd never agree to that assessment. He'd say he's just as flawed as everyone else." Yami smiled. "Even so, I owe him a lot for what he did. The only reason I've stuck around...was to show that he made the right choice. Though I will say, looking out for these knuckleheads is a damn good reason too."

"They seem to really look up to you." Sojiro noted.

"It's because they wouldn't be welcome anywhere else." Yami admitted. "Calling the Black Bulls the worst of the worst isn't an exaggeration, Old Man. These people you see in front of you? They're the freaks and outcasts of the kingdom."

"Magna is a delinquent. Luck is a battle freak with a defective personality. Vanessa's an alcoholic with mommy issues. Gordon and Grey have no self-confidence in themselves. Finral's a cowardly womanizer who was disowned by his family for not having offensive magic. Charmy's a glutton. Gauche is a creep with a sister complex. Zora's a wannabe vigilante with anger issues. Henry's sick. Noelle couldn't control her magic. And Asta _has_ no magic."

"And you gave them a place to belong." Sojiro smiled. "You're a good man, Yami."

"Nah, I just didn't want them to go through what I went through." Yami shrugged. "Just because it didn't bother me doesn't mean it won't bother everyone else."

"Although, the downside of taking in the worst of the worst, the freaks and outcasts, means it reflects on your squad's performance." Yami chuckled.

"What do you mean?" Sojiro asked curiously.

"Well, Lord Julius reformed the Magic Knights into something of a meritocracy." Yami explained. "And we were dead last because of our...destructive habits. We actually had negative stars. I didn't mind, mainly because what mattered to me was making sure all these weirdos had a place to belong."

"I'm sensing that didn't last." Sojiro noted.

Yami then gave a small smile at Asta that Sojiro caught. "That's all thanks to our magicless freak over there." He said fondly. "I came across him during the Magic Knights exam. Nobody wanted him because of how much of an anomaly he was. But he had a fire in him. Even back then, he wanted to be the Wizard King more than anything. Normally, I'm not sentimental, but I saw in him just what I saw in everyone else I took in. I saw myself."

"The thing about Asta, Gramps, is that the kid's a paragon. He inspires everyone to become better versions of himself. If there's any reason why he can actually be the Wizard King, it's that. And he inspired everyone here."

"Luck cares more about his friends than fighting. Finral has the courage to fight alongside everyone. Vanessa has moved past her issues. Noelle can now control her magic. You get the idea. Every single one of them was inspired by Asta to be better versions of themselves." Yami gave a proud smile. "And because of that, they all proved that they belong in this kingdom. This kingdom that may be flawed, but is still our home."

"He certainly doesn't give off such a vibe, but I will say his personality is infectious." Sojiro noted. "You know, I once knew quite the paragon."

"He recruited quite the characters back in the day. Suijin, the mighty pirate of the seas. Kagutsuchi, the man who incinerated everything in his path because that was all he felt he was good at. Raijin, the frightened loner who never wanted to hurt anyone. Fujin, the wandering monk who had been desperately trying to find his faith. Susanoo, the battle freak obsessed with being number one. And he made them all dedicated leaders of his cause." Sojiro remembered.

"Sounds like quite the guy." Yami complimented.

"He could be such a fool sometimes, but he was the finest man I knew." Sojiro acknowledged. "It'll probably be ten millennia before someone as fine as him ever arrives in this universe once more."

"Ten millennia?" Yami gazed at Sojiro before laughing. "You...Watchers, or whatever the hell you are, are something else."

Yami then sighed. "Hey, I'm sure this is pretty obvious by now, but...we really are grateful for what you did for Asta and Secre."

"Well, the party that had been thrown in our honor did make it pretty obvious." Sojiro joked.

Yami sighed. "I'm serious," he said, "you got involved in something you knew nothing about because you thought it was the right thing to do. And in doing so, you saved someone very precious to all of us."

"We're all grateful to you." Yami admitted. "But don't make me say it again."

Sojiro sighed. "I guess this is the part where you swear yourself and your squad to our cause?"

"Damn straight," Yami grinned, "we're with you all the way. Black Bulls repay their debts. And the Black Bulls take care of their own. So, that means you've got us locked down for this whole thing."

Sojiro smiled. "Thank you, Yami." He said gratefully. "I'll admit, I never traversed other worlds with the intent of recruiting them for a war, but my hand was forced. My kingdom is at war right now, so they don't have any men they can spare."

"But it truly makes me happy to know that fate has blessed me with such fine allies." Sojiro admitted.

Yami then raised his sake cup in a toast. "Then a toast," he said, "a toast to new friends."

Sojiro nodded. "To new friends." He said in agreement, clinking his cup against Yami's.

Later that night, as the Black Bulls slowly drifted off to sleep, with Shogo and Noriko joining them, Sojiro took Ruby, Izuku and Asta into the forest near the base. "What did you want to talk about, Grandmaster?" Izuku asked curiously.

"I thought before we went to bed, we might sneak some training in." Sojiro offered. "And since Asta will be joining us from now on, it may be best to get him acclimated as soon as possible!"

"Awesome, so we're starting right now!" Asta exclaimed in excitement.

Sojiro nodded. "First, I'd like to begin with Ruby." He said. "How has your training with Maria been, regarding your eyes?"

"Well, we've mainly been focused on meditation and concentration. Ms. Maria wants me to replicate the feelings I have whenever my eyes activate."

"And those feelings are?" Sojiro inquired.

"My friends and family." Ruby replied. "And how they make me feel. When I think about the people I love, I think about how much I want to protect them. How much I want to preserve their lives...all lives for that matter."

Sojiro nodded. "I see," he said, "do you think it's possible that your eyes react to when you yourself are in danger, if your power comes from a desire to preserve life?"

"Well, if that's the case, why didn't they activate before?" Ruby asked.

"It's most likely because you weren't aware of the conditions." Sojiro admitted. "Desire is one thing, but you still need to concentrate and harness those desires in order for them to manifest in the form of that power of yours."

"Think of it this way," Sojiro continued, "Izuku, Asta, this is a good lesson for you both as well, so pay attention. An athlete can desire excellence in sports all he wants. But he still needs to put in the effort to manifest that desire in the form of 'talent' and 'skill.'"

"Oh, so it all comes down to Lord Julius' talk about getting results!" Asta piped up.

"That's correct." Sojiro said. "Desire is an important thing, don't get me wrong. But if you cannot turn that desire into power, you cannot hope to accomplish anything."

"Now then, Izuku," Sojiro turned to the hero in training, "you mentioned that your biggest issue is control, yes?"

Izuku nodded. "Alright then, I know exactly how we're going to begin." Sojiro nodded. "Izuku, I want you to attack Ruby with as much force as you can to trigger her silver eyes."

"Eh?" Izuku looked at Sojiro in shock. "Sir, are you sure that's safe?"

"Izuku, Ruby's Aura should be able to protect her from your attacks as long as you control the output." Sojiro reminded him. "You need to find a balance if you intend to fight at your best while also avoiding injuring yourself. The best way to do so is to constantly fire off attacks and practice. And what better way to do so by practicing with someone who needs to learn to trigger her trump card at will?"

Izuku and Ruby gazed at each other, still hesitant. Sojiro gave the two a reassuring smile. "I wouldn't suggest this if I wasn't a hundred percent certain you two could handle this." He promised. "I have faith in both of you."

Izuku then took a deep breath. "Well, if you have faith in us, I guess we have no reason not to try." He decided. "Ruby, I'll do my best not to hurt you."

Ruby nodded. "Good," Sojiro said, "I want you both to stand fifty feet away from each other."

Izuku and Ruby obediently stood apart at that exact distance. "Now, Izuku, I want you to attack Ruby with all the force you can muster without hurting yourself." Sojiro ordered. "Ruby, I want you to summon the feelings you have when triggering your silver eyes."

Izuku took a deep breath. "Ruby...I really hope this works." He muttered before closing his right fist and aiming it right at Ruby, who closed her eyes, thinking about her loved ones, her desire to protect them, and the fact that her life was in danger right now.

"Here we go!" Izuku yelled. "Delaware Smash: Air Force!"

Izuku opened up his hand, firing a powerful jet of compressed air, courtesy of One For All. Ruby's eyes opened, only for no powerful silver laser beams to shoot out of them. Izuku gasped fearfully, thinking his attack was going to hit her. However, the blast of air sailed harmlessly past Ruby. Only her hair was disturbed by the blast.

Sojiro sighed. A complete failure. "Okay, you two, what happened?" He asked.

"S-sorry, Grandmaster." Izuku looked down in shame.

"Yeah, we're sorry." Ruby looked down as well.

"No, no, don't apologize. Failure to do something does not require apology. Failing to learn from your mistakes is when you should. So, what went wrong?" Sojiro inquired.

"I just...my aim was off. I just couldn't bring myself to aim directly at her. The whole thing was my fault." Izuku responded.

"No, no, it was my fault too." Ruby shook her head. "Even if he had aimed at me, I wouldn't have been able to use my power. I kept thinking about everyone I loved...but I also didn't really have that desire to protect life that I did back when we were attacked by that Cardinal."

"In fact, I didn't feel in danger at all. I felt...safe around you guys." Ruby admitted.

Sojiro sighed. "Then it seems I owe the both of you an apology." He admitted. "I underestimated how prevalent your finest qualities were."

"Our finest qualities?" Izuku looked confused.

"The both of you are far too kind to seriously attack each other with the intent to injure, or even kill. Your enemies are one thing, but your friends? It's clear I'm asking too much of the both of you."

Ruby smiled at this. "I...guess that's true." She said. "I'm sorry, Izuku, but the truth is, I could never be intimidated by you."

"Eh?!" Izuku looked like he wanted to cry from that statement.

"Oh, no, I don't mean it like that. I'm sure you're very strong, and I'm sure you make bad guys quake in their boots." Ruby continued. "It's just...I don't think I could ever feel endangered around you. You're way too kind for that. The truth is, Izuku, if I wasn't capable of protecting myself, I'd feel as safe as can be knowing that there's someone like you looking out for me."

"Oh," Izuku blushed at this.

Ruby turned red. "GAH! Sorry," she said, "that probably sounded a bit more...love confession-y than I would've liked."

"My point is," Ruby continued, "you're just...very kind. And I think that's a wonderful trait for you to have."

Izuku smiled. "Ruby...thanks."

"I'm sorry you two, I underestimated how kind you two were, and how well you two already knew each other." Sojiro said to them. "Ruby, if you would still like to keep trying, I'll take Izuku's place."

Sojiro stepped up in front of Izuku. "Now, Ruby, with your permission, I'd like to try and kill you." He said calmly.

"...Okay." Ruby was a bit put off by how he had worded that.

Sojiro brought his fist back. _Why would the grandmaster be any different?_ Ruby wondered. _After all, he's as kind as Izuku is._

Sojiro then threw a punch forward, creating a shockwave of compressed air that almost knocked Ruby off her feet. Her Aura actually became visible. He had hit her. Ruby's eyes widened in shock at what had just happened.

"Did I frighten you?" Sojiro asked. "I'm awfully sorry. I hope you'll now understand that I'm quite serious in my efforts."

Izuku gazed at Sojiro in shock. _As kind as the Grandmaster is...he really is a proper teacher. He knows when he has to put on a certain act in order to make sure his students learn. H's a lot like Mr. Aizawa in that regard._

"Now, since you felt that danger, why didn't your eyes activate?" Sojiro asked.

"Umm...I'm sorry, Grandmaster." Ruby bowed. "I just...lost focus. I couldn't really believe you'd actually attack me with the intent to kill."

"Do you believe it now?" Sojiro asked.

"I don't want to, but...you're clearly not messing around, huh?" Ruby noted.

"Ruby, I won't kill you." Sojiro promised. "But I can assure you, this will make it seem like it. I'll keep doing this as much as I have to until you've gotten used to the feelings you need to trigger your powers at will."

"Asta, Izuku," Sojiro then turned to the boys, "why don't you two spar for a bit? I need to focus on Ruby for the time being, it seems."

"Yes sir!" Asta and Izuku bowed.

Asta quickly summoned his Demon-Slayer Sword. "Come on, Izuku," he grinned excitedly, "you've gotta show me how you use that weird power of yours!"

Izuku smiled, quickly turning on One For All to 20%. "Okay then, Asta." He said. "But don't blame me for what happens next. I don't use magic after all, so anti-magic isn't going to help you."

"Bring it on!" Asta grinned. "Even before I got this power, I still kept up my training you know."

As the three young heroes began their training in preparation for the inevitable conflict, individuals with more sinister methods met. Well, between two in particular, one was blatantly sinister while the other was just an ignorant manchild.

"It's not fair!" King Augustus complained atop his throne. "How dare Julius just go and undermine me like that? Does he intend to take power from the king? From the nobility?"

Damnatio Kira hummed thoughtfully at this. "It always has been hard to fully understand just what goes on in that man's head." He acknowledged.

"That damn devil, we were so close." Augustus growled. "I almost had all I needed to execute him for disrespecting me back at the festival! Bah, if only that other brat with him could be proven to be a devil as well!"

"All you have to do is give the order, Your Highness." Damnatio reminded him. "Show me the man, and I will show you the crime. It's that simple."

Augustus could not help but chuckle at this. "Ah, Damnatio, you are truly loyal. A shame that Julius doesn't recognize it. If he did, those others wouldn't have been exiled from the kingdom all those years ago…"

Damnatio fell silent at that statement. _No, those ones deserved exile._ He thought. _Whether their actions were just or not, their lack of humanity made them a liability to the kingdom. At the same time, their presence tipped the balance of power in favor of the nobles, the people of quality who are the very lifeblood of this kingdom. Damn you, you just had to be ruled by your baser instincts…_

"Damnatio!" Damnatio was cut from his thoughts by Augustus. "What do we do? I cannot abide by this!"

Damnatio heaved a sigh. "Your Highness," he said, "might I remind you that you are king of this nation?"

"...Yes, yes I am."

"That means, you don't have to abide by anything you don't like." Damnatio reminded him, the gears in his head turning as a plan to make that devil and those 'wicked' foreigners pay for what they had done. "All you have to do is give the order and name them criminals...and they will be judged as such. That is what being a king is. To hold power over the lives of others."

 _Lord Julius is not acting in the best interest of the kingdom._ Damnatio lamented. _The balance of power cannot shift away from the nobles and into the hands of foreigners and lowborn brats. There is no justice in handing off power to those who lack the blood of rulers._

 _Those with power are the ones who make the rules, therefore the ones with power are the ones with justice on their side. The ones who lack power_ _ **follow**_ _those rules. I always knew Lord Julius had been attempting to change this, giving power to those who 'achieved' in the name of the kingdom._

 _Well, it's time we set an example. To keep the balance of power where it should be in the name of justice. It is time that Lord Julius was reminded that the only ones who need to achieve results are those who are the lifeblood of this kingdom._

Elsewhere, a small cottage on a hill with a lovely view of the capital sat far away from other people. The door to the cottage opened, and an older man with a scruffy appearance, grey hair and a beard, a furry jacket, tattered brown pants, a massive sword strapped to his back, and an eyepatch over his right eye, gazed out at the capital.

"How strange," he muttered, "my entire body has been so tense for the past couple of days."

He then gazed at his right arm, or at least, he would have if it were still there. It was now a stump, right up to the shoulder. "Even my old wound aches. I hope that none of this is a bad omen."

It was...


	17. Chapter 17: Our Justice

**Chapter 16: Our Justice**

Day soon broke across the Clover Kingdom. The morning light shone down on the face of Ruby Rose, who yawned adorably before rising up from the bed that had been kindly loaned to her by Finral. Blushing and ignoring the many, _many_ posters of cute girls that Ruby honestly thought would have qualified as idols and pop stars in her world, she quickly made her way to the Black Bulls' bathhouse, which had been pointed to her by an inebriated Vanessa before bed.

It had been so long since she had time to simply relax, Ruby had honestly forgotten. Beacon had communal showers and even a sauna when they were unable to use the dorm room showers for whatever reason, but there was nothing relaxing about that, especially when you had people like Yang, who just _loved_ to flaunt their good looks. Ruby hated the letter 'E' to this day thanks to Yang…

Ruby yawned again as she sank into the warm, cleansing waters of the bath. "Ah, man," she said blissfully, closing her eyes, "it really has been too long since I've gotten a chance to relax like this. Baths in the inns just don't compare to a soothing bathhouse like this."

"Glad you like it, kiddo." Ruby's eyes widened at the voice behind her.

Ruby looked over her shoulder and turned bright red in embarrassment as Vanessa Enoteca made her way to the bath. The embarrassment came from Vanessa's sheer lack of modesty. She had forgone a towel entirely. "M-M-M-M-Ms. Vanessa!" Ruby stuttered in embarrassment. "What are you doing?!"

Vanessa laughed, her nudity proudly on full display to Ruby. "What are you so embarrassed about sweetie? We're all women here, aren't we?" She saw nothing wrong with this situation.

All? Ruby looked past Vanessa and saw that girl that always seemed to be staring at Asta. Her name was...Noelle, was it not?

Noelle Silva face-palmed at Vanessa's behavior. She was a bit more modest, clad in a towel. "Vanessa," she groaned, "please don't tease the poor thing like that. The last thing you want is for her to run out of the bath in embarrassment. Then she'll just give those perverts an eyeful."

Ruby turned even redder. "Hold on, the men here aren't like that, are they?" She frantically asked.

"Well, Finral and Magna are, but we've got deathtraps spread all over the hallway to the bathhouse." Vanessa admitted with a laugh as she stepped into the bath. "They only activate if someone of the...rougher sex tries to make their way over here."

"Although," Vanessa grinned perversely at the thought, "if Captain Yami showed up, I might let him in."

"Vanessa!" Noelle shrieked, horrified at the thought.

"That's so indecent!" Ruby added, also horrified. "Captain Yami is...way older than Noelle and me!"

"Oh, don't worry, you two, if the captain did actually come here to claim me, I would have the decency to send you both away before we got naughty." Vanessa said with a wink. "I have manners, you know."

Noelle rolled her eyes at this as she removed her towel before sinking into the water. "Vanessa, the more you say things like that, the more I can't help but doubt that." She admitted. "Please don't tell me you're already drinking again this early in the morning? You should be horribly hungover from last night's party."

"Aww, Noelle, you should know by now that I only get hangovers when everyone else is acting ridiculous." Vanessa smiled. "But, here, relaxing with girls like you two, why would I be getting any headaches? This gives us the chance for some womanly talk, after all."

"Oh, yeah, womanly talk like your desire for the captain to claim you like some wild animal." Noelle rolled her eyes. "Yes, that's very proper and womanly, Vanessa."

"Oh?" Vanessa smiled knowingly. "Perhaps we should instead talk about your desire to be claimed by a certain boy with no magic?"

Noelle turned bright red and sputtered at this. Ruby's face grew curious upon hearing this. "You know," Vanessa continued, "if by some miracle he managed to make it here, I'd have no problem ushering Ruby away so that you two can have some alone time of your own!"

"I think I like you better when you're too drunk to say things like that!" Noelle screamed. "And like hell I'd want to do lewd things with that idiot peasant!"

Vanessa just laughed, knowing that was a hundred percent untrue. She then turned her attention to Ruby. "What about you, sweetie?" She asked. "You're what? Sixteen, seventeen now? You've gotta be pining for a boy now, right?"

"Umm...not any particular boys yet." Ruby shook her head. "Though...Izuku did actually grab my breasts when we first met."

"Eh?!" Noelle was stunned at this.

"Scandalous!" Vanessa looked so happy.

"Er...but it was an accident!" Ruby quickly added. "He didn't do it on purpose!"

"...Did you ask him if he enjoyed the feel?" Vanessa teased.

Ruby was now a sputtering mess while Noelle glared at Vanessa. Vanessa saw Noelle's look of disapproval and heaved a sigh. She knew what that look meant. She had only just met Ruby and she was already treating her like she had known her for years.

"Sorry, Rubes," Vanessa said genuinely, "I probably shouldn't talk to you like that when I barely know you, huh? I guess, when you consider that you've been named an honorary member of the Black Bulls, I just thought that gave me free reign to talk to you like I do with Noelle and Charmy."

"Oh, no, it's fine." Ruby smiled. "I mean, I guess if you had been talking to me two years ago, back when I started Beacon, I definitely would've had a problem with it. I was...pretty socially awkward. Still am, just a bit."

"But, honestly, it actually feels nice, getting to talk with friends about casual things...things that normal people should be talking about." Ruby sighed. "My life's been nothing but normal since I realized how much danger my world actually was in. And that was before these...cultists decided to make things worse."

Ruby then gasped as Vanessa embraced her into her chest. Noelle was red again at Vanessa's affection directed towards the new girl. "You're such a strong girl, if you've been through so much that you haven't even had a chance to engage in normal girl-talk." Vanessa smiled. "Well, that changes from here on out. For starters, why don't you think of me as your big sis?"

"But I've already got a big sis." Came Ruby's muffled reply.

"Then I clearly need to have a talk with your sister about neglecting you as a little sister." Vanessa noted. "I don't care how messed up the world is, there should always be time to relax and enjoy the company of the people you love. Those kinds of times...are exactly why we have people who love us, in my opinion."

Ruby managed to free herself from Vanessa's chest. "You really think so?"

"Sweetie, I know so." Vanessa smiled. "I know I may seem like an irresponsible alcoholic..."

"Which you are." Noelle sighed.

"But, part of the reason why I'm able to enjoy the bottle so much, is because I can. And I only can do it because I'm in the company of the members of this squad. My family." Vanessa sighed. "I didn't have that for the longest time. Having it now though, is a blessing I wouldn't trade for anything."

"Ms. Vanessa…" Ruby muttered, surprised at the alcoholic witch's sage statement.

"Oh, enough with that 'Ms. Vanessa' nonsense." Vanessa laughed. "I told you, think of me as your big sis. So just call me 'Vanessa.' Or 'Big Sis Vanessa,' if you'd prefer it."

"Er...let's maybe keep it Vanessa for now." Ruby muttered. "I can't help but wonder if Yang would get jealous if she found out I was trying to replace her…"

Back in the Void, inside of the Travelers' headquarters, a certain blonde brawler sneezed. "The hell?" Yang Xiao Long muttered before remembering a certain trope from her favorite comics. "Is someone talking about me?"

Back at the Black Bulls' headquarters, Izuku Midoriya was going through some morning stretches, trying to get in a little extra training on his own to start the day. He was quickly distracted by the sound of someone counting. His curiosity got the better of him and he walked over to the source. He gasped when he saw that Asta was pushing himself up and down with two fingers. It was a mixture of a handstand and a pushup.

"298, 299…" Asta continued to move through his workouts with the greatest of ease.

"Asta?" Izuku was surprised.

Asta looked at Izuku and gasped. "Oh, hey, morning Izuku." He said. "What's up?"

"Umm...not much," Izuku replied almost automatically, "are you...training?"

"Yeah, I always try to get some morning workouts in before my day starts." Asta grinned.

Izuku gazed at Asta's muscles and nodded in understanding. "Well, as someone who had to go through some pretty crazy training before I could inherit my Quirk, I can respect that." He acknowledged.

"Oh yeah?" Asta grinned. "How's your biceps, we should totally arm wrestle some time."

"Eh? You mean you didn't get enough of a taste of my strength when we were sparring last night?" Izuku was surprised.

Asta chuckled. "Yeah, I guess there is some truth to that." He admitted. "You were amazing, dude. If I had a second 'rival' position, I'd totally hand it to you. Sadly, my rival will always be Yuno, it can't be you."

"Asta, there's no limit to how many rivals you can have." Izuku sweatdropped before smiling. "But...thanks, I honestly don't receive compliments like that very often. When you're trying to succeed the greatest hero, you've got a lot to prove."

Asta grinned and threw his arm around Izuku's shoulder. Izuku flinched slightly. Asta was already drenched in sweat. "Not like I just say that to anyone you know." Asta told him. "You don't have any magic like me, but you still kicked some serious ass. I was honestly starting to worry I'd have to bust out my 'Black Asta' form at the rate things were going. Too bad we never got to see how that would turn out, since the old man stopped us."

Izuku chuckled. "Well, to be blunt, you would've won at that point. 20% of One For All is all I can handle without hurting myself. And that was all I could do just to hang with you."

Asta gave Izuku a bug-eyed gaze. "Dude, seriously?" He exclaimed in shock. "You're only able to use 20% of your full power and you still held your own?"

"Umm...yeah."

"That's awesome!" Asta said earnestly. "Do you even realize how freaking strong you're going to be when you get to a hundred percent? Man, you're just like Noelle! I've gotta triple my training before you pull away from me, dude!"

Izuku gaped at how earnest and sincere Asta was. All that should have sounded like empty praise, but he was just so sincere…

Izuku could not help but smile. Asta's energy was going to take a lot of getting used to. But to have a friend like this guy...it would be worth it, no doubt.

"Hey, mind if I train with you then?" Izuku requested. "I've never actually had the chance to train alongside someone before. I've had to keep my power a secret because of its status, so it would be nice to train with a friend for a change."

"Yeah, you can totally train with me!" Asta grinned. "Maybe after we get done with my usual morning routine, we can spar like we did last night? Who knows, you might get to see my 'Black Asta' form after all."

Izuku laughed sheepishly. "Maybe hold back just a little." He suggested. "It's important to train at the same level of strength so that neither side gets left in the dust so easily."

"Yeah, but eventually you've gotta keep up with me at my best." Asta pointed out.

"We'll take it slow than." Izuku promised. "I do eventually want to see you at your best after all. Fighting strong opponents is the only way I can grow as a hero."

Asta nodded. "That's the spirit." He said. "Now come on, I was just about to do a hundred sprints around the base. You're just in time!"

"A hundred sprints?" Izuku was surprised at the level of intensity of Asta's workouts. He then grinned. "You're on! Want to make it into a race?"

"Totally!" Asta grinned right back.

"You don't mind if I use my Quirk, right? This'll be a good chance to strengthen my connection with One For All! I'd hate to get an unfair advantage, since you don't have any magic."

"Ha!" Asta laughed. "Don't think just because you've got a cool power means you've got an advantage over me. I've trained to compensate for not having any magic you know."

The two were cut from their competitive banter by the sound of laughter. They turned to see Sojiro walking towards them, flanked by Shogo, Noriko, Vanessa, Noelle, Secre and Ruby. "Nice to see you two are so energetic in the morning."

"Oh, hey!" Asta eagerly waved at the others. "Nice to see you, Gramps. And good morning, Vanessa, Noelle, and you other people."

"...Now that you mention it, we never did properly introduce ourselves to Asta." Noriko sweat-dropped.

"I've been relegated to 'other person'?" Shogo wept comically, making Noriko gaze at Shogo like he was an idiot. And to be fair, he was.

"What's on the agenda today, Grandmaster?" Izuku asked curiously.

"We go to Julius," Sojiro responded, "and we ask him if there have been any updates on activities from the Cult of the End. From there, we investigate their presence, and if we cannot find any trace of their activities, then we have to move on to the next world."

"How many worlds will we be visiting, Grandmaster?" Ruby asked curiously.

"After this world, there is one more within the immediate vicinity." Sojiro responded. "I doubt they would travel as far as the immediate area without fully expunging all life from the four worlds here."

"Nice to know that these guys are thorough at least." Vanessa frowned.

"The only upsides of knowing they won't leave until you're all dead is that we know where they are, and we can focus on fighting them rather than chasing them." Sojiro responded.

"There is some truth to that, we can't hope to achieve victory if all we do is follow them." Izuku pointed out. "The only way to win in a war is to fight after all. It's the same with hero work. The only way for heroes to prevail is to stop the villains."

Sojiro nodded, impressed with Izuku's logic. "That's right," he said, "but let's not think too far ahead and focus on what's in front of us. Let's get to Julius, and-"

Sojiro was suddenly cut from his thoughts as several presences suddenly neared them. "Everyone, on guard!" He yelled.

Immediately, all nine individuals were put on guard. "Those cultists you warned us about?" Secre wondered out loud.

"No, I don't sense any Reiki." Noriko responded. "What I sense is...magic? What the hell? Grandmaster, why are we being attacked by people who use magic?"

"I think we're about to get the answer." Sojiro frowned.

At that moment, security mages under the command of Damnatio Kira arrived, surrounding the group in a circle. Damnatio Kira appeared behind the circle with a smug smile on his face. "This guy again?!" Asta exclaimed in surprise.

Damnatio then pointed at everyone except for Noelle and Vanessa, one by one. "The seven of you are all under arrest, by order of His Majesty, Augustus Kira Clover XIII." He announced, much to the shock of the surrounded group.

"The hell we are!" Noriko yelled. "This is double jeopardy!"

"Double jeopardy? I don't know what you're talking about." Damnatio denied.

 _You've gotta be kidding me!_ Noriko was furious. _Double jeopardy isn't a thing with these people? That means they can just try someone as many times as they want until they're found guilty. That's wrong!_

"What is the meaning of this?' Sojiro remained surprisingly calm. "I was under the impression that this matter was settled. Asta and Secre are now under my care, as per the orders of the Wizard King himself."

"Yes, well, His Majesty has decided to overrule those orders." Damnatio responded simply. "It doesn't matter who the Wizard King is, the _real_ king's orders are absolute. And no matter what the law says, the word of the king supersedes everything else, especially a glorified general who is really only good for his power and commanding an army. But generals are a dime a dozen. In a kingdom such as ours, there will always be someone among the nobles with enough power to hold that title. But kings are different. Kings are one of a kind. If we suddenly stopped ignoring the will of the king, this kingdom would descend into anarchy. And no justice can be found in that."

"Bastard," Asta growled, "don't you dare look down on the title of Wizard King!"

"Calm yourself, Asta," Sojiro calmly said to the young man before glaring at Damnatio, "So if I'm to understand, you are ignoring established law because your king didn't get the outcome he wanted? Is that what I'm hearing?"

"You clearly don't pay attention, old man, I already told you, the word of the king _is_ law, and it certainly is more important than what's written on a piece of paper."

"Now look who's advocating for anarchy." Sojiro chuckled. "If the law is changed on the whims of others instead of following an established process...well, that should be obvious."

"Enough!" Damnatio said sharply. "You seven will come with us back to the courthouse, where you will be judged and then executed."

"Oh, no trial this time?" Noriko frowned.

"There is no justice if there's no trial!" Shogo added.

"Just as I said to Captain Fuegoleon and Captain Nozel, we would've reached a guilty verdict had those damnable Black Bulls not interfered with our hallowed process."

"Hallowed my ass!" Vanessa yelled. "All you bastards are running is a crooked process, ran by a bunch of crooked jackasses!"

Sojiro raised his hand to silence Vanessa. "It appears I underestimated a few things about you lot." He noted. "I suppose I should've made my case to your king when I had the chance. Well, now or never I suppose"

"Hold on, Grandmaster, you can't possibly be agreeing to this!" Vanessa exclaimed.

"It's going to be alright, Vanessa." Sojiro told her with a smile. "Just go wake up the Black Bulls, tell them what happened. Do the same with Julius as well, if you don't mind. And please, make sure the rest of the Black Bulls don't interfere. We're going to do this the right way, this time."

"We're really going to court, Grandmaster?" Ruby asked worriedly.

"Don't worry, Ruby, I'll get us out of this." Sojiro promised. "I apologize to all of you, it seems this has proven to be more difficult than I had originally expected. And for a vastly different reason as well."

"Grandmaster," Noelle suddenly spoke up, "at least allow me to accompany you!"

"Noelle, I can't ask you to involve yourself." Sojiro gently told her.

"Sir, as a member of the royal Silva household, I can act as a character witness for all of you." Noelle promised before glaring at Damnatio. "That should mean something for those fools."

"You can try, Lady Noelle, but I'm afraid that even you have no hope of impeding justice this time." Damnatio promised.

"Now, all of you come with me, it is time for judgement." Damnatio ordered.

"Vanessa, remember what I told you." Sojiro said to the woman. "Just do your part and we'll do ours. Everything's going to be okay, I promise."

And with that, everyone except for Vanessa was led away. Vanessa remembered her orders and turned back to the Black Bulls' headquarters. "Damn it, of all times for everyone else to be passed out drunk from last night!" She noted in frustration as she ran back into the base, desperately trying to find everyone to wake them up.

Meanwhile, Julius Novachrono let out a yawn as he stared down at the Time Seal and its contents. He was still wearing his clothes from yesterday and his hair was a disheveled mess. He had stayed up all night studying this fascinating piece of technology. "Oh my," he said feeling the rays of day shine on him, "was I really up all night? I must've lost track of time after Marx left."

"Well, not that I can help it!" Julius said with stars in his eyes. "This seal is so fascinating!"

"You haven't changed a bit." Julius' eyes widened at the sound of that voice. It was one he had not heard in years.

Behind Julius, stood a woman clad in a beautiful blue gown. Her dark pink hair fell behind her to the middle of her back. Her green eyes shimmered as she gazed at Julius. "Long time no see, old friend." She said. "I see that the rumors were true after all."

Julius looked over his shoulder at the woman in disbelief. "Is that you, Titania?" He asked.

The woman known as Titania chuckled. "That look on your face is adorable thanks to that childlike appearance of yours, Julius." She teased. "It makes me want to spoil you."

Julius was on guard, even though there was not much he could do against this woman as he was now. "What do you want, Titania?" He demanded.

Titania pouted. "Is that any way to greet me after all this time? What, can't a girl say hi to her old friend?"

"She can, but last time I checked, our friendship ended years ago." Julius reminded her. "It ended the day you were exiled from the Heart Kingdom."

Titania sighed, leaning against a wall. "I see," she said, "so our paths have sadly diverged forever, just as you claimed ten years ago. A pity, I still think we would've been an unstoppable duo had we pooled our thirsts for knowledge together, you know."

"Duos are only unstoppable when they walk the same path." Julius responded to Titania. "And just as you said, our paths have long diverged. I wanted to research how magic could connect people, bring them together. And you…"

"...Wanted to push past the limits of magic, yes I remember, I was there." Titania huffed. "Honestly, you sound just like those stuffed shirts from the Heart Kingdom. Are you really telling me that you still side with them over me?"

"Even if we were friends, Titania, I can't side with someone who advocates for something I disagree with personally. In fact, I distinctly remember pleading with you to stop your research. I pointed out the dangers and consequences of pursuing such research constantly." Julius gave Titania a sympathetic gaze. "But never doubt that it pained me to testify against you at your tribunal."

"So you claim, old friend." Titania sighed.

"Because it's true," Julius insisted, "do you honestly believe I felt nothing when I had to call my own friend a danger to her homeland? Do you really think that little of me, Titania?"

This made Titania fall silent. Julius sighed. "Titania," he said, "why are you here? Why are you really here?"

Titania did not respond. "Are you here to kill me, Titania? Is that it? Has your grudge against me for my testimony festered to that point?"

Titania chuckled. "Julius, I'm not here to kill you." She promised. "I probably did back then, and up until I heard the news about what happened to you, I still did."

"And that has changed?"

"Yes," Titania nodded, "I wanted to kill you when I could continue my research in pushing the limits of my magic. As I'm sure you can attest to, magic evolves when dueling with an equally powerful magic. Imagine just how far I could've pushed my magic had we fought at each other's best."

"But that's never going to happen now." Titania sadly noted. "I'm well aware of the consequences of what you had done. It doesn't take a genius to find out...and I am a genius, so this was simple. You've lost much of your power by taking this form. Fighting you. Killing you. It'd be so meaningless now. When you lost your amazingly powerful magic, I lost my grudge."

"Then why are you here?" Julius asked, still on guard.

Titania gave Julius a sad smile. "I came here to take one last look at Clover Kingdom's proud capital. And I came to say goodbye, old friend."

As Titania and Julius had their reunion, the seven arrested individuals and their best defense, led by Damnatio Kira, arrived at the courthouse. "Now then, let's get this over with." Damnatio said calmly as the doors opened.

"'Let's get this over with,' always a great thing to say when you're running a trial." Noriko rolled her eyes, disgusted with this travesty.

"I told you all, this is no trial." Damnatio looked over his shoulder. "This is judgement. You have all been pronounced guilty."

"Well, as personal friends of the Wizard King, I do believe we at least have the right to know what we are guilty of." Sojiro pointed out.

Damnatio ignored Sojiro and led everyone inside of the courtrooms. Immediately, they were treated to the sight of the entire Magic Parliament glaring down at them with King Augustus looking down at them with disgust. "Definitely feel like I'm surrounded by a jury of my peers." Noriko rolled her eyes at the sight.

"That's enough out of you, woman." Damnatio said. "Or perhaps you would like me to add contempt of court to your charges?"

Noriko fell silent after receiving a look from Sojiro. The old man cleared his throat. "If I could just be allowed to speak in defense of myself and my associates."

"There will be none of that," Damnatio shook his head, "I told you, this is no trial, this is judgement."

"Then at least tell us what we are being judged for." Sojiro insisted.

"Treason in the case of Asta and Secre of the Black Bulls. Conspiracy in the case of you foreigners." Damnatio replied.

"WHAT?!" Even Ruby sounded outraged at this.

"Hold on, where's your evidence?" Izuku demanded.

"Evidence? The only 'evidence' that is needed is my word!" Augustus yelled. "I'm the king, damn it! That means, everything I say and do is correct! That means if I say your actions yesterday reek of conspiracy against our kingdom, against _me_ , then so it shall be!"

"If I may just be allowed to speak." Sojiro repeated.

"There will be none of that, for I have already spoken." Augustus responded, scoffing at the idea of allowing such a thing.

"Then allow me to speak, as a noble and member of the Silva family!" Noelle yelled, shocking Augustus.

"You would defend them?" Augustus inquired in surprise. "You, a member of royalty?"

"Yes, I am royalty!" Noelle nodded. "So allow my word to act as testimony on behalf of these people!"

"Asta and Secre, for starters, are not guilty of treason at all!" Noelle declared. "They are the heroes of this kingdom."

"The fact that you are trying to make them scapegoats out of some sort of personal bias is disgusting, and a mockery of justice!" Noelle declared. "You all bring shame to nobles who strive to better our kingdom!"

"As for Grandmaster Sojiro and his associates, allow me to also testify that they are not guilty of conspiracy, and have actually come to this kingdom to both warn and aid us of the real threat that lurks in the shadows."

"Noelle," Sojiro said to her, "tread carefully, these people won't…"

"Even if they don't believe us, they need to hear that you are trying to help us, not harm us!" Noelle insisted. "And you people have the nerve to push some false accusation like conspiracy? And for what? Because you don't like them either? Because they got in the way of your sham of a trial yesterday? And now you're even trying to go behind the Wizard King's back regarding one of his own Magic Knights and his personal friends?"

The Magic Parliament gazed at Noelle in disbelief. Everyone had been stunned into silence. "You are right, I am royalty!" Noelle nodded. "And it's because I'm royalty that I cannot stand in silence in the face of injustice such as this. I stand here before you today to say that everything you say is utterly false, and that these people are not guilty!"

"Noelle…" Asta smiled at his good friend's defense of him and everyone else.

Damnatio then let out a chuckle, breaking the silence. "So, we're supposed to take the word of the 'royal failure?'"

"Excuse me?' Noelle was shocked.

"Might I remind you all," Damnatio said to the Magic Parliament with a cruel smirk on his face, "that this is Noelle Silva, the Silva family's sad failure who could not control her own magic. And suddenly, she grows to arguably a Captain-class Magic Knight. I say that is suspicious."

This made the parliament murmur. _The bastard is leading everyone. He's turning them all against Noelle now._ Sojiro realized.

"You say that these charges are false, Lady Noelle. I say that you have been influenced."

"Influenced?" Noelle was shocked at this.

"I say you entered into a pact with the devil for power." Damnatio pointed at Asta, much to her shock. "How else could the royal failure have achieved this much power, hmm?"

"That's a lie!" Noelle yelled. "I gained control of my magic with hard work!"

"No amount of hard work could've changed you." Damnatio insisted. "Now tell me, how did you enter your pact? How did you convince him to grant you power? Perhaps you offered yourself to him as a lover?"

Noelle turned red at the thought. "Now that is simply shameful." Damnatio continued. "To think, one of our own-someone of royal blood-would actually whore herself out to a devil. How utterly disgraceful."

"How dare you!" Shogo yelled. "You cannot just speak such slander about a maiden you bastard!"

"Don't talk like you know Noelle at all!" Asta yelled furiously, inches away from summoning his grimoire and slicing this bastard in half. "I watched her struggled to control her power! She did it all on her own, not because of me! Don't you dare brush off all her effort, and don't you dare say that she had to do something like that for power! I won't stand for anyone saying that kind of crap about my friends!"

Noelle could not help but blush at Asta valiantly defending her honor like that. "And why should we believe you?" Damnatio inquired.

"In fact, why should we believe any of you?" Damnatio continued. "Two devils? Conspiratoring foreigners who claim that the mighty Clover Kingdom faces a threat that brings destruction? And why should we believe a weak girl who's existence brings shame to royalty?"

"Lady Noelle, no, Noelle, you have lost the right to any sort of title." Damnatio shook your head. "I'm shocked that you honestly thought your testimony as a character witness would've held any weight here. It's insulting for you to even think we'd listen to the likes of you."

"Your Majesty, what should we do with Noelle?" Damnatio inquired. "It's clear she's in leagues with these enemies of ours."

"Execute her too." Augustus nodded. "No one would miss her. Nozel brushed her off as a failure, after all."

"You can't be serious!" Noriko exclaimed in disbelief.

"How many times must I say this, we are not at a trial, this is a judgement." Damnatio sighed. "And all of you have been judged guilty."

"This is a farce!" Shogo exclaimed.

"Call it what you will, the parliament and the king have made their decision." Damnatio reminded them. "Your word means nothing compared to the word of nobles, men and women of quality."

That made Sojiro finally break. The old man let out a hearty laugh upon hearing this. "And what is this?" Damnatio inquired. "Has despair and old age finally made you go mad, old man?"

"How dare you laugh in these hallowed halls!" Augustus exclaimed.

"Forgive me, it's just when I see such lunacy, I can't help but laugh." Sojiro admitted.

"Men and women of quality?" Sojiro chuckled. "Now that's a good joke. Truly a good joke. With how things have been, I needed a little bit of levity."

"Don't mock us." Damnatio growled.

"You've done that to yourselves, I'm afraid." Sojiro responded. "Men and women of quality. Let me explain something to you, and I'll try to say it as plainly as I can so that you can understand."

"I know what men and women of quality look like. I've fought with and trained them for generations. And you are not that." Sojiro said bluntly. "To be frank, you would've not lasted a minute with the men and women of quality that I've fought and bled with over the years. You are nothing more than big fish in a very small pond. You're not even big fish. You're little fish who seem convinced they are big."

"But those who put their lives on the line for everyone, even people like you. The soldiers and warriors who fight for the sake of others. Those are the men and women of quality, not you."

"What nonsense!" Augustus yelled. "Do you mean to tell me that the Magic Knights are of higher quality than me? The king? They're just cannon fodder! You have no sense of hierarchy, old man!"

"Higher quality than you? Without a doubt." Sojiro nodded. "Of course, the soldiers I've known have come from all walks of life. Rich and poor, noble and common, throughout history it mattered little who it was. They all joined our army for the same reasons: love for the people, and pride in the nation we built together."

"Why, even the kings of my nation fight alongside the people. Men and women of quality? You? Don't look down on true quality people!" Sojiro declared.

Augustus turned as red as a tomato from Sojiro's words. "This is a mockery of justice." Sojiro continued. "You can claim to be on the side of justice all you want, but I'm afraid simply claiming it does not make it so. Being just puts you on the side of justice."

"...I wish I had a microphone to give the grandmaster so that he could drop it." Ruby admitted.

"Are you finished?" Damnatio inquired, clearly not moved at all by Sojiro's statement. "Because I believe we have an execution to move onto."

"You fools," Sojiro sighed, "if you do somehow manage to kill us, you not only doom yourselves, but a lot of other people."

"Don't try to frighten us with such nonsense." Damnatio responded.

"I would not dare try to do such things if I didn't speak the truth." Sojiro shook his head. "You have no idea how much danger your kingdom, nay, your entire world is in. We came here because we wanted to help. We still wanted to help, in spite of your best efforts to make us despise you."

"And to be honest, I want to help, in spite of everything." Sojiro admitted. "Because I really cannot stand the idea of damning this entire world because of you lot."

"But I tell you this right now, you succeed in killing us...I'm afraid you will only bring about your end. I make this plea to you all, right now. Do not let your shortsightedness damn us all. Please, work with me and my allies so that we may save your kingdom and the world."

Damnatio rolled his eyes. "Again, why should we believe anything you say?"

"Are you calling the grandmaster a liar?" Shogo demanded.

"We're the only ones being honest here!" Noriko added.

"So you claim, but the courts decide what is true and what is false. And this court, as a court filled with those who have been elevated to their authority, could never have less authority than the likes of you." Damnatio insisted. "This is justice. We are justice."

"What a load of crap! You don't give a damn about justice at all!" Noriko yelled. "All you care about is maintaining your power base. It's just like Vanessa said. All this is, is a crooked process run by crooked people!"

Damnatio responded by raising a hand into the air. Immediately, a small army of security mages surrounded the group on trial. "Did they use magic to appear here?" Noelle wondered.

"Your Majesty, give the order and the firing squad will put an end to this farce." Damnatio requested, getting his own grimoire ready in case these criminals decided to resist.

"Kill them already, I've wasted enough time." Augustus rolled his eyes. "I'd ask that they suffer, but I don't want to risk them living long enough to fight back."

"As you command," Damnatio nodded, "let the execution begin-"

The doors suddenly swung open, making everyone freeze in place. "And just who in the world is interrupting this time?" Augustus demanded. "Damnatio, execute them as well for interrupting us!"

Damnatio nodded and turned his attention to the new arrival, only for his eyes to widen in shock. A man dressed in pure white robes with shoulder length dark hair, a longsword strapped to his hip, and gleaming red eyes walked inside of the courtroom.

"My, my," he said, "it has been so long since I've been in this courthouse."

"Caligula?" Damnatio could not believe what he was seeing.

"I can't believe my eyes." Augustus muttered in disbelief. "Caligula? You've returned to the kingdom?"

The man known as Caligula gazed up at Augustus and bowed to him. "I have indeed returned home, Your Majesty...my cousin."

 _This is bad._ Sojiro was immediately on guard. _That level of mana is…_

 _I don't believe what I'm seeing...what I'm sensing._ Noelle gaped in shock and horror. _This level of magic power is as great as the Eye of the Midnight Sun's leader! Elves were supposed to have superior levels of magic! How could one human have the strength to match one of the strongest?_

"A momentous day! Caligula Kira, our judge has returned to us!" A member of the magic parliament giddily exclaimed.

"We've waited for this day with bated breath, Caligula! We were always on your side! We always believed that Julius had been unfair to you!" Another added.

"But now that you have returned, know that the crimes he charged you and your subordinates with have all been pardoned! You can now act as the new leader of a reformed Clover Kingdom military! With our Wizard King conspiring with foreigners and devils, it's clear that there needs to be a change!"

"Oh my?" Caligula Kira was surprised. "It seems quite a bit has changed since the Magic Judges were exiled."

Damnatio, however, was on guard. _Why did he have to return?_ _Just what is he here for?_ He wondered before putting away his grimoire. _Public opinion is on his side though, so I cannot make a move against him. If the nobles desire he and the Magic Judges be granted a full pardon and control, then so be it. This may be necessary for the kingdom to return to a more just path…_

"As to your offers though," Caligula heaved a sigh, "I'm afraid I'll have to decline."

"Do not be so modest, Caligula." Augustus smiled. "You were always as strong as a Magic Knight Captain! And I'm sure your time away has made you as strong as Julius! You would do well as the leader of our reformed military!"

"No, no, I must insist I decline, Your Majesty." Caligula said to them.

"But Caligula, if this is about Julius, I promise we'll deal with him." A member of parliament spoke up.

"Yes, we'll do all we can to make things up to you for the injustice you and your men had to suffer." Another assured him.

Caligula chuckled. "You wish to do all you can to make up for it, you say?" He inquired.

Suddenly, Caligula's three-leaf grimoire appeared in front of him. "Very well!" He said with a deranged smile on his face. "Consider this your atonement!"

Speedily, Caligula drew his longsword. "Mana Zone: Blade of Divine Retribution: Hurricane!" He yelled, before slashing the area around him.

"Get down!" Sojiro forced Ruby and Izuku to the floor. Shogo did the same for Noriko and Secre, while Asta grabbed Noelle and pushed her down.

At that moment, blood began spurting from everyone in the courtroom. Screams filled the halls as members of the Magic Parliament and Damnatio's security mages fell one by one. Damnatio, who had been shockingly spared from this attack, stared at Caligula in disbelief. "What...what is the meaning of this Caligula?" The chairman looked around at the carnage around him. In the span of fifteen seconds, Caligula had murdered the entire Magic Parliament, except for the king, who was frightfully cowering behind his seat.

"Are you not listening, Cousin?" Caligula chuckled cruelly. "This is their atonement. This is for...oh, forget it, I'm dropping that facade. I killed them because I wanted to, it's that simple. You have no idea how annoying it was to be praised for bringing 'justice' to people that the Magic Parliament wanted to see disappear, when I didn't give a damn about any of that crap."

"You should know this about me, Damnatio, since we're family." Caligula continued. "But I never gave a damn about justice or righteousness. The only reason I took the job as the leader of the Magic Judges, the personal assassins of the Magic Parliament, was simply so that I would be allowed to kill people legally. That's it."

"The Magic Judges?" Secre was in utter shock at the carnage around her. "Who in the world are people like that."

"That attack," Asta muttered, "he used Mana Zone, like Sisleona does."

"Get off me, Asta!" Asta was suddenly pushed off a red-faced Noelle.

One by one, the defendants rose to their feet, gazing at Caligula warily. "Ah, so we have some survivors I didn't mean to leave out of my divine retribution."

"And who in the world are you?" Sojiro demanded.

"I am Caligula Kira, leader of the Magic Judges." Caligula politely introduced himself. "And you must be those 'otherworlders' that Cardinal Yakuma had informed me about."

"Cardinal…" Sojiro narrowed his eyes. "So, you joined the Cult of the End."

Caligula nodded. "Originally, I had tried to kill the Cardinal when we met his men on a whim." He explained. "I lost...badly. But the Cardinal loved my 'attitude', as he put it, so much that he recruited the Magic Judges to his cause. I was intrigued, so I agreed to it."

"Caligula!" Caligula's attention was turned to the angry Damnatio, who had brought out his grimoire in offense. "How dare you murder the Magic Parliament! Do you not realize what you have done to this kingdom?"

"What I've done to this kingdom? It really seems more like what I've done to you, Cousin." Caligula pointed out. "You always loved condemning others. Just like I love breaking things apart. That's just who we are. But along the way, you realized you could use that love to advance yourself up the ladder."

"In the end, we're the same, Damnatio." Caligula pointed out. "Two men with twisted loves that hid behind 'justice.' The only difference is, I acknowledge it."

"Now, Mana Zone: Blade of Divine Retribution: Hornet's Sting!" Caligula stabbed forward.

In normal cases, Damnatio's Scale Magic would have allowed him to shrink Caligula's magic to something harmless. However, his magic was simply too slow, compared to Caligula's near instantaneous attacks.

In an instant, a hole appeared in Damnatio's body. The chairman of the Magic Parliament vomited blood as he fell backwards.

"The speed of those attacks is insane. I couldn't follow them at all!" Shogo exclaimed.

 _It's not that Shogo couldn't follow it...it's more like...the attack appeared in a near instant. There's at least a second long delay while Caligula is attacking, I can tell that much, but other than that...it's like the force of the attack simply appeared at its target._ Sojiro noted.

"Damnatio!" Augustus yelled in fright.

"And that leaves you, Your Majesty." Caligula smiled at Augustus.

"C-Caligula, please, what can I do to avoid this at least?" Augustus pleaded pathetically. "Okay, yeah, you killed the Magic Parliament. I can definitely let that go. After all, with them gone, the king has absolute power! And with that absolute power, I can grant you anything you wish!"

"Your Majesty?" A weakened Damnatio could not believe what he was hearing.

"Gods, can he be more pathetic?" Noriko wondered.

"Anything?' Caligula inquired.

"Yes, anything!" Augustus nodded frantically. "Money, women, status, anything! I can even declare a proclamation that you are allowed to kill anyone you wish when the mood strikes you! I'm the king, I can do whatever I want after all! And I can do anything for you to placate you, Caligula! Just please, don't _kill me_!"

"Then tell me, Cousin, what can you offer that I cannot obtain on my own on the path I am currently walking?"

"Eh?" Augustus paled. "I'm...not sure I understand the question. Come now, Caligula, you should know that the king is capable of granting and taking anything, right?"

"You can grant me money? If I so wished it, I could take wealth from anyone I killed and they wouldn't be able to stop me." Caligula pointed out. "You can grant me women? Well, I'm afraid I'm not particularly interested in that sort of thing, but if I was, I don't need the likes of you to help me claim a woman or two. You can grant me status? You clearly haven't been listening. I don't give a damn about status."

"You can declare I'm legally allowed to kill anyone when the mood strikes me." Caligula laughed. "Now that is just funny that you think I need something like that, because I do that now. I don't need a proclamation to change that."

"For me to be interested in your offer means you need to _have_ something to offer. Something that I cannot obtain on my own. You do not have that, Cousin. Your offer is utterly useless to me." Caligula pointed out.

Augustus sputtered at this. "Then die!" He shrieked with idiotic bravado, brandishing his grimoire. "Die for opposing a king you ungrateful brat!"

"Light Magic: Absolute Monarch of Divine Brilliance!" Augustus yelled as a giant construct of himself made of light appeared before Caligula.

"...He can't be serious." Noriko muttered.

"I see you still have no interest in actually learning to use your magic the way it is intended to." Caligula chuckled. "Compared to my Spatial Magic, this is nothing."

"Fool! My magic is absolute! It is divine! It is brilliant! Cower before it!" Augustus clearly forgot the last time he had tried this.

"Mana Zone," Caligula held his blade horizontally, "Blade of Divine Retribution: Ruined Sky!"

Caligula swung his blade. A moment later, the Absolute Monarch of Divine Brilliance was beheaded, much to the horror of Augustus. In fact, the entire building was beheaded from the force of Caligula's attack, much to the shock of everyone who was still present and alive.

"EH?!" Ruby and Izuku gaped in fear and disbelief.

Meanwhile, Julius Novachrono's attention was drawn to the loud crash in the distance. He rushed to his window and gasped, seeing the roof of the Magic Parliament building suddenly collapse. "What in the world is happening?" He wondered.

"Oh dear, it appears Caligula has already started. Indeed, this is goodbye, Julius." Titania lamented, going to the window with him.

"Caligula?" Julius' eyes widened in fear. "Titania, no! What have you done?! Why in the world would you ally with him of all people?"

"It's not just him, Julius." Titania admitted. "I've joined with...a very large undertaking."

Julius gasped, remembering Sojiro's warnings. "You didn't…"

"I did. It seems you know everything." Titania noted. "Farewell, Julius."

With that, Titania leapt from the balcony of Julius' room and floated away from him. "God no," Julius moaned in horror, "what have I done?"

"Lord Julius!" Julius spun around to see Yami Sukehiro appear from a portal, flanked by Vanessa Enoteca and Finral Roulacesse.

"Yami, what's wrong?" Julius frantically asked.

"It's the old man, Asta and the others!" Yami said. "That damn chairman took them back to the courthouse for another trial."

Julius' eyes widened. "Yami," he said, "someone just destroyed the courthouse."

Yami looked past Julius and saw the ruined courthouse. "What the hell?" He demanded. "Who the hell did that?"

"Caligula Kira," Julius grimly replied, "the Magic Judges seem to have returned for revenge."

"Caligula Kira?" Finral was surprised to hear the name. "As in, a member of the Kira family? He did that?"

"Not just any member of the Kira family, a particularly dangerous member. One I exiled from the kingdom years ago." Julius revealed. "It appears he never got over it."

"With all due respect, Wizard King, why would he attack the courthouse instead of you if that's really the case?" Vanessa asked curiously.

"Because he seems to be supported by someone with worse intentions than just revenge on me." Julius admitted. "I think he's working with those cultists that Sojiro warned us about."

That was all Yami needed to hear. "Finral, Vanessa, let's get moving!" He ordered. "Asta and the others need our help! Finral, can you transport us there?"

"I mean, I've been there, so yeah." Finral nodded. "But captain, you're going to drop us right in the middle of whatever the hell is going on there?"

"That's exactly how I want it." Yami responded. "Let's go!"

Finral quickly created a portal. The trio of Black Bulls quickly ran into it. Julius sank into his desk chair. "Damn it all," he muttered, "I owe Sojiro an apology after this."

Suddenly, more explosions rocked Julius' office. "More attacks? We're being invaded!" Julius was shocked.

"Damn, I thought we had more time!"

Indeed, the Cult had launched their attacks on Clover Kingdom. Within the span of a single night, they had moved from the Diamond Kingdom all the way to the Clover Kingdom's capital. And now, they were launching their ruthless attack to decapitate the kingdom in one blow.

Giant boulders, for starters, fell on entire buildings, and on occasion, unlucky civilians caught in the attack.

Just outside the city, Yakuma, the Cardinal of Destruction, flexed his arm as he reached for another boulder in the large pile that had been gathered for his use. He gripped it easily in spite of its massive size before tossing it at the city.

One of Yakuma's Bishops stood next to him. He was a youthful man with a shockingly effeminate hair color: cherry blossom pink that matched his pink eyes. Two swords were strapped to his hips. "You appear to be throwing haphazardly today, Cardinal." He noted.

"When the only goal is to destroy, there is no need to overthink things like targets, Musashi." Yakuma corrected. "Now tell me, what is the word from Enshiro and Mirai?"

"I have received word they have both begun their attacks on opposite sides of the capital." The young man named Musashi responded. "I can only imagine that we will soon be hearing joyous declarations of success."

"Very good," Yakuma nodded, "now then, let us see what fate has in store today. Will life be snuffed out and destroyed? Or has the inevitable end only been delayed for now?"

Meanwhile, another Bishop of Yakuma's, a young man with ash-grey hair and horrifying burn marks over his right eye and hands, let out a mad cackle as he incinerated an entire block of houses with one blast of molten hot lava. "Burn it all!" He yelled. "Everything burns in the name of our god!"

At his feet were incinerated and melted Magic Knights who had bravely tried to mount a counterattack against him, only to meet a grizzly end. Sekke Bronzazza found himself cowering behind some charred rubble, gazing at the man in shock. "What the hell? Where did he come from?" He wondered. "He just...showed up out of nowhere and started blasting everything with lava. Where the hell is his grimoire? He's...he's a monster!"

"And why in the world are you cowering, huh?" Sekke yelped before looking over his shoulder to see his captain, Jack the Ripper, glaring down at him.

"C-Captain," Sekke whimpered, "I wasn't cowering, this was...reconnaissance!"

"Considering you look ready to piss yourself, I'd say that's cowering, Magic Knight." The bishop pointed out, now having noticed Sekke and Jack's presence.

"I couldn't agree more, if we survive this, Sekke, you're on cleaning duty for a year." Jack stepped in front of Sekke, brandishing two blades that grew from his arms.

"Oh?" Jack's power caught the bishop's attention. "That's an interesting looking power you've got there, friend."

"It's my magic, what you've never seen magic before?" Jack demanded.

"Not until recently, no." The bishop admitted. "I am Enshiro, Bishop of Destruction. And judging by your level of power, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that you are one of those Magic Knight Captains I've heard so much about."

"And what if I am?" Jack demanded.

"Well, I just think you should know that I'm already kinda disappointed." Enshiro admitted. "I was under the impression that captains were a bigger threat than you."

Jack was taken aback by Enshiro's insane levels of confidence before smirking. "Keke," he chuckled. "I'm going to enjoy slicing you to pieces, whoever the hell you are."

"Not if I burn you to a crisp first, Captain." Enshiro grinned at the man before him. "Those silly little blades of your mean nothing before my molten hot Art, Volcano!"

"Bring it on!" Jack yelled.

On the other side of the city, a single woman with puffy white hair like sheep's wool and light blue eyes sat on the edge of a building as clouds danced around in front of her.

Some clouds fired off bolts of lightning that destroyed buildings or fried unlucky people caught beneath them. Some blasted powerful snowstorms that buried entire blocks. Some blasted drizzles of rain with enough force that actually turned buildings into swiss cheese. Some transformed into small tornados that tore across the areas

"Today's forecast calls for lightning, snow, rain and tornadoes with a hundred percent chance of death and destruction." The girl said with a serene giggle, betrayed by her definite malice directed towards the area around her. "Oh my, I kill myself with my jokes."

"If only," the woman let out a small gasp at that voice.

She then vanished as a large volley of briars stabbed towards her, destroying the roof she was on. She reappeared, standing on top of a cloud. "Oho?" She said. "It appears I've attracted the attention of a particularly strong one. I guess things have now gotten complicated."

Charlotte Roselei glared at the woman, standing atop a giant earth golem. "I don't know who you think you are, attacking our kingdom," she said, "but you will be treated as an enemy, regardless of any reasons you may have."

"You're supposed to be better than this!" Sol Marron, Charlotte's number one fangirl and subordinate spoke up. "Destroying things all haphazardly like this is something only men do!"

The woman hummed thoughtfully at Sol's words before pointing her open palm at Charlotte and Sol. "Thundercloud." She commanded.

A shadow appeared above Charlotte and Sol. It was pitch black. "Sol!" Charlotte yelled as lightning struck down atop the golem.

The woman chuckled as she gazed at Charlotte and Sol with a serene expression on her face. The two had gotten away just in time thanks to Charlotte, but Sol's golem had been vaporized in an instant. "It seems strange that the Magic Knights would allow someone like you to be a member if that's all you seem to be focused on." She mused. "It seems unprofessional."

"Honestly, why would anyone waste their time with those kinds of thoughts. All they seem to do is jumble your mind up all violently, like a storm." The woman smiled in that same serene manner as before. "I'd much rather just go along with things, like I'm floating on a fluffy white cloud."

"What in the world is that power of hers?" Charlotte wondered. "There's no grimoire…"

Charlotte's eyes widened. "Don't tell me, you're part of the group the grandmaster warned us about!"

"Oh my, so we've already got a reputation?" The woman gasped as she clapped her hands to her face. "Oh dear, that's terrible! How are things supposed to go easily and smoothly when people are already being warned about us?"

The woman let out a small whine. "I guess it really doesn't matter. According to Cardinal Yakuma, things will end the same regardless. Still, I wish things could've been a bit simpler."

Several clouds appeared behind the woman. "I am Mirai, Bishop of Destruction." Mirai introduced herself. "I am the one who brings about a speedy end with calamities brought forth by my Art, Cloud."

"Sol," Charlotte spoke up in a firm tone, "get back."

"Now then," back at the courthouse, Caligula trained his sword on Augustus, "let us end you now, Your Majesty."

"First thing's first, Mana Zone: Angel Wings." Caligula vanished and then reappeared right in front of Augustus.

"How did he do that so quickly?" Ruby wondered.

"It's Spatial Magic!" Secre exclaimed. "And he's using Mana Zone to amplify its power!"

Caligula aimed his sword at Augustus' throat. "Please, Caligula, you wouldn't kill your own cousin, would you?" Augustus asked him.

"You seem to forget I put a hole in Damnatio. Or perhaps you're hoping I play favorites?" Caligula said darkly. "Sorry, but I don't play favorites. I treat all my victims equally."

Augustus wailed in fear. "Please, Caligula, I'll do anything! Just don't kill me!"

Caligula sighed. "I know you'll do anything, Cousin." He said. "Because that's just the kind of man you are. Ever since you knew you would be the next king of Clover, you were like this, always prioritizing your life, health and safety above all others. Do you remember when I was a toddler? We both were sick. But because of how young and weak my body was, I was in far more danger."

"But you insisted you be treated by the family doctor first because you were to be king." Caligula reminded him. "Even though with every moment I grew sicker, I was in greater danger of dying."

"Is that what this is all about, Caligula? I'm sorry about that!" Augustus did not mean that apology at all. He just did not want to die.

"You're really not listening." Caligula rolled his eyes. "As much as I despise you all, what I'm doing is not because of any grudges or anything like that. I discarded such petty things years ago so that I could focus on what I really wanted out of my life."

"I wanted to kill things, and I still do. I wanted to take things apart and leave them as such." Caligula cruelly revealed. "You prioritize your life above all else, I don't even give a damn about life at all. But there is one thing we both have in common, Cousin. It's that we both love holding power over other people's lives. Damnatio's the same way. Maybe it's a familial trait. But between the three of us, I'm the only one who's willing to admit to it."

"And so, King Augustus, I hereby judge you guilty of living. Your sentence? Execution. Why? Because I said so."

Augustus wailed in fear once more. "That's enough!" A voice yelled out.

Caligula rolled his eyes and spun around, dispassionately blocking a stab from Asta and his Demon-Slayer Sword. "Ah, the no-magic Magic Knight I've heard so much about." Caligula noted. "I'm surprised you're protecting him. Didn't he order your execution?"

"Just because he's a pathetic bastard, doesn't mean I have to be a petty one!" Asta yelled. "I've seen enough death today, whoever you are!"

"Asta!" Izuku and Ruby yelled in worry.

Caligula sighed and exerted some effort, pushing Asta away from him and back to his group. "Sorry, Gramps, should I not have jumped in like that?" Asta asked.

"It would've been a bit reckless." Sojiro acknowledged. "We still don't know the full extent of his power...other than the fact he surpasses us all in raw strength alone."

"I must admit, when Cardinal Yakuma told me that he and his associates were from another world and that I should expect to face other foes from other worlds, I almost didn't believe him." Caligula admitted. "However, when you get beat up by a nearly seven-foot tall, musclebound, axe-wielding behemoth who doesn't even use a grimoire, you're forced to reexamine your worldview."

"Now then, let's see how you stack up."

Before Caligula could initiate the fight, a portal appeared above him. He quickly looked over his shoulder to see a man fall towards him, katana raised in the air. "Angel Wings!" Caligula teleported himself to safety.

Yami Sukehiro unknowingly landed on top of the king, who let out a yelp of pain before falling unconscious. "Ah damn it, did I seriously miss?"

"Actually, it's more like he was a bit too fast for you, Captain." Finral pointed out as he and Vanessa landed behind Yami.

"Shut up or die, Finral." Yami told him, making Finral yelp in fear.

"Captain Yami?" Asta exclaimed in shock.

"Finral? Vanessa?" Noelle added, equally surprised.

"Oh, thank goodness, we weren't too late." Vanessa noted with relief.

"Umm...wish I could say the same about everyone else." Finral looked around, turning green at the sight of all the carnage.

Yami sighed, taking a long drag of his cigarette. Caligula chuckled as he stood on a railing on the other side of the building. "I see that the makeup of the Magic Knights has changed, I don't recognize that insignia." He noted.

"The name's Yami Sukehiro, Captain of the Black Bulls." Yami introduced himself.

"Yami Sukehiro? Ah, I remember that name." Caligula smirked. "You're one of Julius' lapdogs, right? Same with that Vangeance? So, did Julius send you to face me on his behalf."

"Wrong! You and this damn parliament interrupted me while I was in the middle of a crappy hangover and a really difficult dump I was taking." He continued, pointing his katana at Caligula. "Since I can't tell off these idiots, I'm going to have to take everything out on you. Hope you're prepared to die."

Finral sweat-dropped. "Really, Sir?"

"Hey, Captain, what about your subordinates he attacked?!" Asta demanded.

Caligula chuckled. "Oh, I like you." He admitted. "I like you a lot."

Meanwhile, back with Yakuma and Musashi, the Cardinal continued tossing boulders at the city before him. "Say the word and I will bring you more boulders, Cardinal." Musashi said obediently.

"Don't think so far ahead, Musashi, enjoy the moment." Yakuma told him. "In fact, why don't you go into the city and undertake your own duty?"

Musashi shook his head. "Sir, I should stay by your side in case an enemy discovers our location." He responded.

"Are you telling me that I cannot protect myself, Musashi?" Yakuma demanded.

"Of course not, you are the mightiest Cardinal!" Musashi claimed. "You do not need protection from a lowly bishop such as myself. I simply wish to stay by your side for my own peace of mind!"

Yakuma gazed at Musashi before shrugging. "Do as you please, boy." He said. "It's your life, so control it and do with it as you wish."

"As you command, Cardinal-" Musashi began before being cut off by a particularly powerful mana signature.

"Wind Magic: Towering Tornado." Musashi and Yakuma were both suddenly enveloped by a mighty tornado.

Yakuma and Musashi quickly leapt out of the cyclone. Musashi looked back and watched as the boulders were flung away from the city by the tornado. "Such powerful winds," Musashi acknowledged, "who in the world attacked us?"

"Look up, Musashi." Yakuma folded his arms, gazing up at a particular spot.

Musashi did as asked and gasped, seeing their assailant. It was a tall, young man with dark hair and an impassive gaze, standing atop a solid, miniature cyclone. He brandished a four-leaf grimoire at the two cultists.

"It seems we've been found by a Magic Knight." Yakuma acknowledged. "Identify yourself, boy!"

"Yuno, of the Roars of the Golden Dawn!" Yuno responded. "You two interrupted my training...and attacked the kingdom."

"I hope you're prepared to face the consequences."

"Face the consequences?" Musashi frowned. "How unbelievably arrogant of him to declare such a thing to you, Cardinal."

"Such words can only be proclaimed by someone who has the strength and confidence to take control of his own life and destiny." Yakuma claimed before addressing Yuno. "Yuno, was it? You say we're to face the consequences of our actions? Tell me, boy, do you have the strength to back up such a bold claim?"

"I wouldn't have confronted if you if I did not believe I did." Yuno responded.

This made Yakuma laugh. "Oh, I see?" He was genuinely amused by Yuno's response. "You've got guts."

Yakuma's face then contorted into a malicious grin as his entire body was enveloped in Reiki. "I like that!" He declared.

 **A.N: Real talk for a sec. Any time you meet a guy who has the same name as arguably the most brutal, monstrous Roman Emperor in history...RUN! Run like hell, and pray to God he doesn't catch you. But yeah, Caligula Kira, ladies and gentlemen. I think I've mentioned this before, but because the Rogues Galleries of these series are much smaller than the FWW ones, you can expect to see a lot of OC Antagonists, like Caligula, Titania and Andros.**

 **Hope everyone enjoyed the double release. I'll see you all soon! Happy 2020!**


	18. Chapter 18: Black Future Ahead

**A.N: So, first, a big announcement. Last month, I announced the publishing of my first original novel: Age of Heroes: The Hero and the Disciple, in eBook format. Well, I would also like to announce that for anyone who prefers a hard copy, hard copies are now being offered as well! So, if you've enjoyed my work here, I encourage you to check out my original material as well!**

 **I'll also be changing my pen name on this site to reflect my new status as a published author. From now on, when you're trying to find my profile, keep your eyes peeled for Author Nicholas Drew**

 **Now then, it's time to get back to War of Discoveries. Which I'm having a blast writing, by the way. Hope you're having a blast reading it!**

 **Chapter 17: Black Future Ahead**

Musashi immediately stepped in front of Cardinal Yakuma, keeping his gaze on Yuno. "Cardinal Yakuma, please allow me to fight him in your stead!" He declared. "This one is definitely stronger than the Diamond Kingdom mages we had crushed during the uprising, but you still should not have to waste your energy on such filth. You must...only destroy that which is worthy of you and your power! Any less would be utterly insulting!"

Yakuma scowled as he relaxed. The visible Reiki around him quickly disappeared. "Musashi, I don't need you to babysit me."

"I would never disrespect you in such a manner." Musashi assured his master. "But Cardinal, I cannot abide by you fighting against someone who is utterly unworthy of your time."

This made Yakuma laugh. "My time? Musashi, my boy, you seem to forget that time is a very slow-moving thing for our people." He noted. "I have all the time in the world."

Yuno raised a curious eyebrow at Yakuma's statement. "Bell," he said to a spirit floating beside him, "what do you make of these men?"

In reality, the female spirit floating beside him was actually Sylph, the Spirit of Wind, one of the 4 Elements. Bell was simply a nickname. "Honestly, I don't know." Sylph admitted, shaking her head. "But Yuno, please, be smart about this. These two...both of them are insanely powerful. That swordsman is at least as strong as the elves were, and they had unbelievable power levels. And that big guy...I think he might be stronger than that Word Magic Devil."

"...Oh, I see." Yuno responded simply.

Sylph pouted at Yuno's nonchalant response before noticing how uncharacteristically tense his body looked. _I see...Yuno, you're putting on a brave face, but you're scared deep down. You know what it means to be confronting enemies with this level of power._

"That may be so, but as your loyal Bishop, I must take care to eliminate the weak in your stead, so that you may destroy only those who are worthy of your efforts." Musashi said.

Yakuma laughed once more. "Musashi," he said with a big grin, "this boy confronted us of his own free will with the intent of defeating us both. That level of confidence...that alone makes him worthy of my efforts, no matter how misplaced it may be-"

"Wind Magic: Tornado Fang!" Yakuma and Musashi were suddenly blasted by a horizontal tornado.

The rocks, grounds and trees themselves were ripped to pieces by the force of Yuno's Tornado Fang. Yuno gazed down at the tornado. _If they are that strong...then I can't hold back against them._

Yuno then heard Yakuma's boisterous laughter. "Splendid attack, boy!" He declared from inside of the tornado.

Then, much to Yuno's disbelief, Yakuma and Musashi both calmly walked right out of the tornado. "Yes, I can sense it. You're strong. It makes me happy that this is the world I was assigned to investigate and then destroy. Because now I get to battle strong opponents like you!" Yakuma admitted.

There he went again with such confusing statements. This world? Investigate? What in the world was he talking about? Yuno was incredibly confused by it all. "Now then," Yakuma continued, "before I kill you, what was your name again?"

"It's Yuno," Yuno responded, "commit it to memory before I strike you down."

"Ha!" Yakuma laughed once more. "Yuno, eh? A strong name for a strong lad! And to think you'd make such a statement even after we shrugged off such an attack."

"I am Yakuma, one of the Four Cardinals of D, the Cardinal of Destruction!" Yakuma introduced himself. "I suggest you commit my name to memory, Yuno, before I _destroy you_!"

Musashi scowled. "So, your heart is set on fighting this one?"

"Just as I told you, Musashi," Yakuma said to him, "when an enemy confronts me with this level of bravado and power...I just can't help but crush them myself!"

Yakuma's visible Reiki, colored dark green, reappeared. "Yuno!" He yelled. "Don't blame me for what happens next!"

"We need to transform, now Yuno!" Sylph frantically yelled, worried for her partner.

"Alright," Yuno nodded, "Spirit Assimilation: Spirit Dive!"

With that, Yuno's body transformed as Sylph fused with him. Yuno's left arm turned green, a green circle of connected crosses appeared around his wrist, a green wing appeared from the left side of his back, and a green half-crown of connected crosses appeared on the left side of his head. This was the form known as Spirit Dive.

Musashi gazed at Yuno's new form with interest. _His Mana has increased significantly as a result of that technique. As he is now, he'd almost be a match for me. However, he is not. And he is certainly no match for the Cardinal._

Yakuma laughed in delight. "Excellent, this is what it's all about!" He declared. "Powerful techniques, increases in strength. To take the fight to its absolute limits and destroy everything around it! That's a true fight!"

"Wind Spirit Magic!" Yuno dispassionately held out an open palm. "Spirit Storm!"

A swirling beam of wind was fired at Yakuma from the palm of Yuno's hand. Yakuma grinned and crossed his arms out in front of him in an 'x' formation. Yakuma took the blast head on, much to Yuno and Sylph's surprise. Yakuma was then enveloped within the Spirit Storm.

"I see how you truly feel, Yuno." Yuno heard Musashi call up to him. "And I suppose to someone like you, it would be a surprise to see someone make a conscious decision to take an attack like that head on. I understand your confusion."

Yuno narrowed his eyes at Musashi's words. "That is simply who Cardinal Yakuma is." Musashi acknowledged. "A man who lives to destroy, whether it is others, or even his own body. He is a man who only feels alive when he experiences the same danger that others are placed in because of him."

Yuno then heard the sound of a beast like roar. He turned to see his Spirit Storm broken up as Yakuma uncrossed his arms. "Magnificent!" Yakuma said with a feral gaze in his eyes. "Your magic has indeed increased in strength!"

Blood dripped down from Yakuma's body. However, he was completely ignoring the lacerations that were actually minor at best, simply because he could. "What else have you got, Yuno?' Yakuma grinned. "Come on, is with all that bravado, I'd think you'd have a bit more than that."

Yuno was finally starting to lose his composure. Not even that devil had inspired this much concern from him. However…

" _Let's see who becomes the Wizard King first!"_ That single promise. The challenge those two gave each other that set their fates in motion. He could not step back now.

"You're right, I do have more than that." Yuno narrowed his eyes, showing pure grit. "And I'll throw as many attacks at you as I have to. Because I'm not going to stop. I'm not retreating and I'm not giving up!"

"Now that's the spirit!" Yakuma exclaimed. "Let's see who's still standing at the end! Which one of us is strong enough to have earned the right to live another day! And which one of us is too weak to live through the culling of the herd that fate has brought to us?"

"Bell...you with me?" Yuno asked softly.

" _Until the end, Yuno."_ Sylph's voice rang out in his head.

Yuno held out his arms. "Wind Spirit Creation Magic: Spirit of Zephyr!" He yelled, creating a two-handed sword composed entirely of mana.

Yakuma laughed. "That's it, come at me!" He yelled.

"Don't blame me for what happens next!" Yuno yelled, swinging the sword and conjuring several tornadoes that were sent towards Yakuma.

Musashi shielded himself from the high winds, keeping his gaze entirely on Yakuma. He watched as Yakuma decided to dodge this time, leaping and running around the tornadoes, displaying surprising flexibility and speed, coupled with Vanishing Walk. Yuno's eyes widened at how unbelievably fast Yakuma was moving. Even while fused with Slyph, his eyes were still struggling to keep up with Yakuma's movements.

 _He's unbelievably fast for a man his size!_ Yuno noted.

" _Yuno! You need to use Mana Zone! If we can't follow him with our eyes, then let's use the winds and mana themselves to predict his movements."_ Sylph suggested.

Yuno nodded. "Mana Zone: Spirit's Hushed Dance!" He yelled, taking control of the surrounding Mana and using it to sense and predict Yakuma's movements.

Musashi nodded, impressed with Yuno's newest attempt at keeping up with his master. _Not a bad plan. Mana Zone, from what we understand, is a technique that allows wielders to gather natural mana in the area to amplify their magical abilities. If I had to guess, he's probably using it to better detect Cardinal Yakuma's movements._

 _He's weaving about in a serpentine pattern._ Yuno noted inwardly. _But he'll be attempting an attack...right in front of me!_

Yakuma appeared ten feet in front of Yuno. "Now!" Yuno yelled, swinging the Spirit of Zephyr at the hulking Cardinal.

Yakuma gave a big grin as he _caught_ Yuno's Spirit of Zephyr in his bare hand. Yuno's eyes widened. This opponent of his just grabbed a blade made of pure Mana. Who the hell was this guy? "Nice knife." Yakuma taunted before snapping the blade in half with his bare hand.

Yuno gasped. "Not good enough, Yuno." Yakuma told him before bringing his fist back.

In his shock, Yuno was unable to process the fact that Yakuma was about to throw a devastating haymaker that struck the Magic Knight right in the ribs. The blow created a shockwave that blasted the bushes and trees around them. Yuno's mouth dropped open as blood flew from his mouth. He felt his ribs shatter from the blow. "Yuno!" Sylph yelled in concern.

Yuno was launched off his feet, sent flying far away, much to Yakuma's amusement. "I wonder if I should've held back a bit." He mused before addressing Musashi. "Any thoughts?"

"No, that was perfectly appropriate." Musashi shook his head. "That upstart should know that he has no way of beating a foe of your caliber."

Yakuma laughed in amusement. "He was strong, Musashi." Yakuma assured him. "I was just stronger. The strong preserve their existence and the weak are destroyed. That is the way of the world. It is the hierarchy of the world.""

"I'm aware, Cardinal." Musashi nodded. "That is the belief you have instilled within me ever since you found me that day."

The two then heard the sound of ground shaking. "Hmm?" Musashi turned to see a giant, walking building moving towards the capital. "Well...that's a first."

"Oho? Now that looks interesting." Yakuma grinned.

"Cardinal," Musashi said, "with your permission, I will handle this. This is clearly an enemy's doing. A very unique enemy if they can turn a building into that."

"I'll allow it." Yakuma nodded. "Better you do your job and destroy our foes, rather than just waste your time babysitting me. Go have some fun of your own, Musashi."

Musashi nodded in understanding. He took a few steps forward before disappearing with Vanishing Walk. Yakuma laughed in amusement. "That boy," he said with sincere fondness, "he hasn't changed a bit since the day I found him."

"Now then," Yakuma turned his attention to where he had sent Yuno flying, "I think I've still got someone to thoroughly crush. So let's play a bit longer!"

Meanwhile, said walking building was the Black Bulls Headquarters, powered by Henry Legolant and his Reconstruction Magic. "Hang on, we're coming to save you, Asta! Everyone!" Magna Swing declared staring out the windows that served as the eyes of the walking HQ.

"Freaking corrupt bastards." Zora Ideale frowned with a furious gaze in his eyes. "They just don't know when to quit, huh?"

"We're gonna make a statement this time, for their sakes." Even Gauche Adlai was determined. "But I still won't let Asta have Marie."

"Umm...shouldn't we also be worried about the commotion in the capital?" Grey wondered, pointing at the destroyed buildings. "That looks like some really scary stuff going on."

Luck Voltia's entire body was crackling with electricity in excitement. "Oh yeah!" Luck said. "War! Just like Grandmaster Sojiro said there would be! The bad guys are here and ready to fight! This is going to be great-"

Then, Luck's excitement was immediately wiped away. His eyes widened in excitement. He immediately ran to the back of the HQ's head, gazing out the windows in the back. "Guys!" He yelled. "There's someone coming our way!"

The Black Bulls ran over to where Luck was. "Henry!" Magna yelled. "Turn us around! Someone's coming from behind!"

Henry did as asked and turned the HQ around. Musashi then leapt on top of a tree, staring up at the walking building. He stared at the head and nodded to himself. "Eight lifeforms, each of varying strengths...but rather impressive. None of them are at the level of that one that challenged Cardinal Yakuma." He noted.

Musashi then drew both of his katanas. "This shouldn't take too long." He noted.

Zora, Magna, Luck, Grey, Gauche, Charmy and Gordon all stared at Musashi. Luck smiled. "He's strong, I can tell from here." He noted. "And he's got the same kind of power Grandmaster Sojiro and the others have."

"Oh damn, so he is from that Cult." Gauche growled.

"Don't freak out on us and fly off the handle, Luck." Zora warned him. "We need to be smart about this."

"Yeah, don't worry." Luck smiled at him before promising. "I want to fight him, but I want to protect you guys too."

"I'll...prooooooootect youuuuuuu toooooo!" Henry declared. His voice booming through the halls of the headquarters. Henry then launched an attack of his own. "Mana Corkscrew!"

The HQ's right arm started spinning violently before launching itself at Musashi. Musashi's eyes narrowed before he vanished from sight, much to the shock of the Black Bulls. "So fast!" Gauche said in shock.

Then, in a few seconds. The spinning arm fell from the main body. Musashi then reappeared atop the base's shoulder. "WHAT?!" The Black Bulls all face-faulted in shock.

Musashi then gazed right inside the windows, staring at the Black Bulls. "We might be in trouble." Zora muttered to himself.

Musashi then held both blades out in front of him. "Sakura-ryu: Scissors!" He yelled before vanishing.

There was a sudden jolt in the head that almost threw everyone inside off their balance. Then, much to their horror, the head suddenly began to slide from the shoulders. "No way!" Magna yelled in disbelief. "He decapitated our base in one shot?!"

Musashi reappeared on the other shoulder. He watched as the head then fell from the shoulders, hitting the ground just in front of the capital with a loud crash. The Black Bulls were left on the ground in a heap, groaning from the crash. "That was...so not cool." Magna muttered.

"That attack was so strong." Gordon added quietly.

"Everyone out!" Zora yelled. "We've gotta get out of here, right now! Grey, transform into someone big enough to pick up Henry!"

The Black Bulls quickly piled out of their destroyed base, with Grey in her giant man form carrying Henry.

"They all survived." Musashi noted. "I suppose that is to be expected. Compared to the worlds 'Despair' and 'Death' went to, this world appears much stronger."

Musashi then leapt from the shoulder he stood on and landed in front of the Black Bulls. Magna stood in front of Grey. "Stay back," he ordered, "keep Henry safe."

Grey nodded while the other six Black Bulls stood before Musashi. "Those robes of yours...you appear to be Magic Knights." Musashi noted. "I am Musashi, Bishop of the Triad of Destruction. I will now be taking your lives."

"Nice introduction." Magna muttered sarcastically.

"I love it!" Luck added giddily. "Right down to business! Now let's get to bleeding!"

Musashi raised an eyebrow before nodding. "I won't ask any of you to plead for mercy, for you won't be receiving any of it." He promised. "This is extinction, a cleansing of worlds in the name of our god. It is nothing personal, just what fate has at the end of your lives."

"Wow, they really are a doomsday cult, just like the old man said." Gauche muttered.

"Now then, prepare to die." Musashi said, gripping his twin katanas tightly.

"Gauche!" Zora yelled.

"Mirror Magic: Reflect Refrain!" Gauche yelled, opening up his grimoire and creating several mirrors that surrounded Musashi.

Light was fired from all the mirrors, right at Musashi. Musashi let out a humph before he began leaping and weaving his way through the beams of light.

"Everyone, fall back!" Zora yelled.

"What?" Luck yelled with a visibly disappointed expression on his face.

"Magna, grab him!" Zora yelled. "We have to fall back, now!"

"Not very manly, but you've got it!" Magna grabbed onto Luck and the Black Bulls began their full retreat from Musashi, much to Luck's sheer displeasure.

As the Black Bulls retreated, Zora began laying down minor traps that he was able to draw while on the run. He had to slow this guy down and also injure him in the process. Luck knew it and that was why he was so eager to fight. However, Zora was different. He could tell that Musashi was dangerous just from how the guy carried himself. They needed to fight dirty in order to have a chance at beating Musashi.

Musashi himself leapt past the last of Gauche's attacks before noticing that the Black Bulls had retreated. "Once you decide on your target, you do not allow them to retreat." He remembered one of Yakuma's teachings. "Destroy your enemies thoroughly. That is what it means to dedicate yourself to our faith's tenet of destruction."

With that, Musashi sped towards his targets with Vanishing Walk. He then sensed the traps that Zora had been laying around. "I see...how crafty." He complimented.

Musashi then used the flat side of one of his blades to flick a medium-sized rock onto one of Zora's traps. The trap was triggered and then exploded. Zora gasped at the sound of his landmine trap exploding. "You're kidding, he got past Gauche's attack already?"

Luck's eyes widened. "Zora, he's coming!" He yelled.

"I know!" Zora yelled back. "My traps should slow him down a bit more though. It should allow us to get to the capital, find some allies, and come up with a plan to take this guy out. Damn it, of all times for the captain, Finral, and Vanessa to be gone. Finral's spatial magic would've been great and that damn cat of Vanessa's could help us survive!"

"I see, shorthanded?" The Black Bulls froze in shock as Musashi suddenly appeared in front of them.

"What the hell?" Zora gasped in disbelief. "How'd you get past all my traps?"

"Among the Bishop Triads, my sensory abilities are the greatest." Musashi explained. "You cannot possibly best me with such paltry tactics."

"He's so fast…" Gordon muttered quietly.

"And I have pushed my physical abilities through intense training as well." Musashi nodded. "So yes, I am quite fast."

"YOU UNDERSTOOD HIM?!" Magna yelled in disbelief.

Musashi then Vanishing Walked in front of Zora, pointing both of his blades at Zora. "Die." He hissed, stabbing at Zora.

Magic Circles suddenly appeared in front of Zora, much to the shock of both Musashi and the Black Bulls. "A trap set on himself?!" Musashi gasped.

Zora grinned. "Yeah, I know my traps were easy to sense. I didn't exactly have time to set them properly you know." He said. "But I always keep a trap set on me. One drawn thoroughly enough that even our best sensor can't catch it! Don't look down on the Super Mage, bastard!"

Musashi frowned at Zora's act. _I see...he was expecting me to get past his traps...and he expected me to come after him first because he knew that I knew he was the craftiest, the brains of this group. A surprisingly smart move on his part…_

"Gauche!" Zora ordered.

"Right! Here we go, Mirror Magic!" Musashi looked off to the side to see Gauche moving off to the side. "Reflect Ray!"

Musashi narrowed his eyes and leapt away from Zora, avoiding Gauche's Reflect Ray. "Flame Magic!" Magna yelled. "Exploding Buckshot!"

Magna tossed multiple fireballs past Zora towards Musashi. "Impressive teamwork." Musashi complimented before swinging his katanas wildly, batting away all of Magna's fireballs.

"What the hell, man?!" Magna yelled in annoyance. "That's Asta trick, don't steal it!"

Musashi batted the last two of Magna's fireballs away, holding his twin blades out to the side. He then saw Luck rush him, clad in lightning gauntlets and boots. "HA!" Luck yelled, throwing a kick that struck Musashi in the stomach.

Musashi grunted as he was knocked backwards by Luck's kick. "Gotcha!" Luck cheered.

"Think again!" Musashi yelled, digging his heels into the ground, stopping himself from falling back too far.

"Whoa, he's really tough!" Luck exclaimed in a tone of voice that was a mixture of excitement, but also concern. "Hey guys! I think he's about as strong as the guy leading the Eye of the Midnight Sun! Isn't that crazy?"

"No, it's concerning you idiot!" Magna exclaimed.

Musashi cracked his neck. "Your teamwork is...impressive." He acknowledged. "However, we of the End are of a vastly different opinion. We believe that we must become stronger individually before we become strong as a unit."

"Otherwise, you're just a bunch of weaklings, licking each other's wounds." Musashi pointed out. "Six weaklings fighting together are still weaklings. And not a single one of you possesses the strength to best me."

"You say that, but you can't bring yourself to attack me." Zora grinned. "What's wrong, scared of my traps? Or perhaps you're realizing that there is something to be said about teams?"

Musashi narrowed his eyes. "Would you perhaps like to find out? Much like my master, I am in no way afraid of pain." He turned back to Luck. "Now then, you say you are teammates...you say you are friends. So that means...everything goes, yes?"

Musashi sped towards Luck. Luck's eyes widened at Musashi's incredible speed. He reacted quickly. "Lightning Magic: Thunderbolt Destruction!" He yelled, firing off orbs of lightning continuously at Musashi.

Musashi easily avoided all of Luck's attacks. Zora then instinctively moved in front of Luck as Musashi appeared in front of him. "Sakura-ryu: Twin Fangs!" Musashi yelled, swinging both of his blades down onto Zora.

Zora grinned as Musashi's attack activated his trap. He had the foresight to switch traps on his body. Because these people used something other than magic, he had to gamble on them using purely physical. Which meant he could now reflect the force of Musashi's attack back into him.

Musashi gasped slightly as he felt the force of his own attack rip into his body. The blows pushed him backwards as blood flew from his body. He then nodded curtly at Zora. "Congratulations for being the first person in a long time to actually wound me." He acknowledged. "However, like I said…"

Musashi once again dug his feet into the ground to brace himself. Zora's eyes widened when he realized that Musashi was going to attack again...and he did not have the trap to defend himself. "Sakura-ryu: Crescent Moon Slash!" Musashi slashed the air with enough force to create a razor-wind projectile that struck Zora in the chest.

Zora gasped as he was launched into the air. "Zora!" The rest of the Black Bulls yelled in terror at the sight of their friend falling. Zora grunted in pain as he hit the ground and laid there, motionless. Musashi, meanwhile, stared impassively at the beaten man.

"Bastard!" Magna yelled furiously, running up to stand next to Luck, beginning to gather an immense amount of Mana in his hand.

"You're dead!" Luck's perpetual smile vanished as he stared at Musashi with a look that promised death. He gathered an immense amount of Mana in his hand as well.

Musashi watched in interest as Magna and Luck then pooled their Mana together, creating an orb of fire and lightning. "You're going down!" Both yelled at Musashi in unison.

Musashi remained calm, crossing his twin katanas together in defense. "Union Magic!" Magna and Luck yelled, rushing Musashi with all their might. "Flame Lightning Explosive Cannon!"

Magna and Luck let out brutal roars as they both slammed the Flame Lightning Explosive Cannon into Musashi, enveloping him in a powerful explosion. Meanwhile, Gordon and Charmy ran over to Zora, checking him in concern. "Zora!" Charmy yelled in worry.

"This is bad," Gordon murmured, "that attack cut deep into his body. If we don't get him to a healer, he's going to die."

"S-seriously?" Zora groaned in pain. "Screw that, I don't want to die. I'm not ready to see my old man again."

"Charmy," Gordon said to her, a bit more audible now, "can you...cook something that can heal him? Something like your Master Chef?"

"G-Gordon, my magic only restores people's own Mana, not healing." Charmy reminded him. "I don't think I can…"

"Charmy, he will die if we don't help him." Gordon shook his head at her, speaking clearly. "Like what the captain says: 'surpass your limits.' This is the only option we have."

Charmy looked at the wounded, heavily breathing Zora. She then looked at Magna and Luck, who stood waiting to see the fruits of their labor.

Meanwhile, back at the Magic Parliament's now-destroyed courthouse. Yami Sukehiro stood at the front to lead the charge against the mighty Caligula Kira. "Now then," Caligula said, "I advise you all to come at me at once if you want a chance at winning. As I'm sure you know by now, I can take any of you out at any time I wish, such is the power of my Spatial Magic."

"Cocky bastard, ain't ya." Yami frowned. "Don't ya know you're staring down the squad of Magic Knights that saved this kingdom?"

"Now is not the time to be gloating, Captain!" Finral exclaimed.

Caligula laughed at this. "That just makes it more fun! You can only pull off so many butterfly wings before that gets boring! Eventually, you want to wrestle a tiger to death!"

"But unfortunately," Caligula continued, "I've gotten so good at killing, even wrestling tigers to death gets a bit boring. Watch how good I am at it."

"Here he comes!" Sojiro warned, while everyone prepared for battle.

"Mana Zone: Blade of Divine Retribution: Hurricane!" Caligula slashed wildly.

Ruby Rose and Izuku Midoriya both gasped as what felt like a blade passed harmlessly across their heads. "Wh-what?" Izuku gaped in disbelief. "What just happened?"

Caligula raised a curious eyebrow. "Well, that's new." He acknowledged with a slight frown. "I never miss...let alone miss at that scale. I didn't hit a single one of you."

Vanessa Enoteca smirked triumphantly, gazing at her cat familiar, Rouge. _Nice try you psychopath._ She thought derisively. _But as long as Rouge is here with me, no one I care about will die! This is the power to change fate itself! Something even you can't beat!_

"Everyone, attack!" Vanessa yelled. "We'll win as long as we work together!"

"Right!" The rest of the group declared, now ready for a fight.

Caligula scoffed. "This just got more irritating." He muttered.

Asta immediately transformed into his blackened, Anti-Magic Form. _This guy's strength and killing intent is insane!_ He acknowledged. _I can't hope to do anything against him if I don't go all out from the start!_

Izuku Midoriya was enveloped in green-colored lightning. "One For All: Full Cowling 20%!" Izuku yelled, having the same idea as Asta.

"Reinforcement!" Sojiro yelled while Shogo floated into the air with the use of Meteor.

"Water Creation Magic: Valkyrie Armor!" Noelle enveloped her entire body in a suit of armor made of water.

Ruby pouted slightly. "I...don't have any super cool transformations." She realized.

Yami laughed at Ruby's statement as he pointed his katana at Caligula. "I'm too badass to need a transformation." He said. "Maybe you're the same?"

"At least you're not a purely support mage!" Vanessa and Finral exclaimed.

Yami made the first move. "Dark Magic: Dark Cloaked Lightless Slash!" He yelled, coating his katana in Dark Magic before firing a crescent of darkness at Caligula.

Caligula smirked and suddenly vanished from sight. "He teleported!" Finral immediately realized. "That was insane! I've never seen someone use Spatial Magic at such speed! Even Langris's magic isn't that fast! This guy is seriously bad news!"

"It's Mana Zone!" Yami realized. "Lord Julius does the same thing with Time Magic!"

Caligula appeared behind Yami, holding his longsword over his head. Yami narrowed his eyes and easily blocked a downward swing from Caligula. Caligula grinned maniacally at Yami's act. "Impressive sensory abilities...and I believe that's ki you're using as well?"

"Oh? You know about ki?" Yami asked. "That's a surprise."

"Not personally, but your name did imply you were from the land far East." Caligula pointed out. "From there, it was rather easy to figure out."

"Hell of a detective, aren't ya." Yami grinned tauntingly. "But did you detect this?"

A portal appeared above Caligula, and out came Izuku Midoriya, holding his leg up in the air. "One For All: 20%!" Izuku yelled as he flipped downwards to increase his momentum and force, preparing for a devastating attack on Caligula. "Manchester Smash!"

Caligula narrowed his eyes. He almost instinctively teleported himself away, only to suddenly be restrained in place by invisible wires, courtesy of Vanessa. Caligula grit his teeth slightly as he took the full force of Izuku's Manchester Smash. _One blow to the head, that should be all I need!_ Izuku thought to himself.

Yami then spun around. _I'll strike him down with one blow!_ He declared.

Caligula recovered and moved his sword wrist slightly, wiggling his sword in the process. Suddenly, Vanessa's threads were cut loose in a frighteningly precise manner. _That's impossible!_ She gasped. _With how much stronger my threads have gotten, even guys like that despair bastard should have trouble breaking through! He was able to move just enough to use his sword with Mana Zone!_

Caligula then teleported once more before Yami could cut him down. He reappeared on a railing. "Well, that hurt more than it should have." He acknowledged before noticing that Noelle and Ruby were charging towards him, with Shogo and Sojiro coming in from the sides.

Noelle suddenly disappeared into a portal in front of Caligula. _Humph, that damn spatial mage again._ He noted. _He'll probably send her behind me while the little one keeps her frontal assault going._ _I'll worry about what's in front of me and keep my eyes peeled for what's behind me._

Caligula readied his blade for Ruby, who was holding Crescent Rose at the ready. Then, much to Caligula's surprise, Ruby transformed into rose petals, increasing her speed and momentum. _So this is the kind of power I can expect from the otherworlders. No matter, it won't stop me from killing her!_

"Mana Zone: Blade of Divine Retribution: Hornet Sting!" Caligula stabbed forward, only for the rose petals to suddenly split apart and move past Caligula, surprising the Magic Judge.

 _She's preparing an assault from the back as well?_ Caligula was surprised.

Then, a portal opened up in front of Caligula. Noelle came charging out and speared him with her water lance. "Ugh!" Caligula gasped. "Damn!"

Sojiro and Shogo both vanished into portals as well. Ruby reformed herself behind Caligula, prepared to bury Crescent Rose into his back. Caligula narrowed her eyes and teleported to safety once more. Caligula then reappeared again, surprisingly no worse for where, in spite of taking two devastating blows from Izuku and Noelle.

"Geez, what is he made of?" Finral wondered.

 _Mages almost always focus on training their magic and neglect their bodies, so they're not the most durable bunch. Guys like Captain Yami and Captain Mereoleona are exceptions because their magic so closely ties in with their physical prowess._ Finral noted. _And this guy's as durable as they are!_

Shogo then suddenly appeared from a portal, uppercutting Caligula into the air. Sojiro then appeared in a portal right next to Caligula. "Starlight Breaker!" He yelled, throwing a hook right at Caligula, who barely managed to block the blow with his blade, but was still sent flying into a nearby wall. The wall cracked around him.

"Damn, I shouldn't be having this much trouble." He growled to himself.

"Don't forget about me!" Caligula looked up to see Asta flying right at him.

"The Anti-Magic brat I've heard so much about!" Caligula growled, recognizing him in an instant. "Don't take me lightly like those fools you've fought before! My strength isn't just my magic! Mana Zone: Blade of Divine Retribution: Divine Divide!"

Caligula swung downwards, attempting to move the force of his slash with Mana Zone right to Asta and cleave him in half. He would strike him where he was not covered in Anti-Magic, just to be thorough. However, much to his shock, the slash only got Asta's wing, which reformed in an instant. Not only did Caligula miss his target, but he ended up not even attacking the correct side. "That's not possible!" He yelled furiously, losing his composure.

"One-Horn Bull Thrust!" Asta yelled, driving the Demon Slayer Sword right into Caligula's chest, shattering the wall behind him and flinging the Magic Judge right outside of the courthouse.

"Don't take you lightly." Asta growled, landing on the rubble. "Don't give me that crap. I've never taken any of my opponents lightly. When you grow up like I did...you learn that there's potential in everyone!"

"Wowza!" Ruby exclaimed. "That was so cool, Asta!"

"No kidding, way to go Asta!" Izuku added.

"Don't celebrate yet, you two." Sojiro frowned. "I can still sense Caligula's Mana. He's still alive and he can still fight. In fact, while I'm sure he felt Asta's last attack, I think it angered him more than it hurt him."

Sojiro and the rest of the group began to exit the remains of the courthouse to join Asta. Sojiro then turned back to look at Augustus, who had long fainted in fear. He then looked at the still injured Damnatio. "We're going to keep fighting for this kingdom...in spite of your best efforts to deter us." Sojiro told the chairman of the nonexistent parliament. "What will you do?"

"Wh-what?" Damnatio looked at Sojiro in confusion.

"Do you intend to continue getting in our way, Damnatio? When all we want to do is help you people?" Sojiro asked.

Damnatio remained silent. "Noriko," Sojiro then addressed the resident healer of the group, "treat the chairman's injuries, please."

"Eh?" Noriko was surprised. "Sir, this guy…"

"I know, but be honest with me, Noriko," Sojiro responded, "as a medic, can you truly say that you can sleep at night knowing you deliberately let someone die?"

Noriko sighed, knowing there was only one answer. "You're right," she said, "everything about this guy and what he stands for pisses me off. It goes against everything our kingdom believes in."

"But...abandoning him to death...also goes against what our kingdom believes in." She acknowledged. "No matter how much someone pisses me off...I can't ignore my vow as a doctor."

Noriko walked over to Damnatio, glaring at the man. "Make no mistake, Chairman, I despise you." She said. "How you treated me, the Grandmaster, and all my friends, I have no intention of forgiving you for any of that. Just be glad I have the morality to do what's right, even when I personally hate it. Something you don't understand."

"In other words," Noriko continued, "be glad that the rest of the world isn't like you, you son of a bitch."

As Noriko began her treatment of the shocked Damnatio, the rest of the group all stood outside with Asta, waiting for Caligula to return. Secre Swallowtail ultimately remained behind with Noriko, knowing she would not be much help. Instantly, the leader of the Magic Judges appeared before them with an impassive gaze on his face. "You have...no idea how irritating this is for me." Caligula told them. "Throwing attacks knowing that some outside force is going to make them miss. Let me guess, fate-altering magic, right?"

Caligula then turned to Vanessa. "And I'm going to go out on a limb and say that you're the one responsible, right? I know I'm right. You're the only one left capable of such power."

Vanessa tensed at her secret being found out. Caligula scowled. "Damn, how frustrating. How effective of an executioner can I possibly be when it's impossible for me to actually kill my targets, huh?" He wondered. "I'll tell you the answer: I can't. It's simply impossible."

Caligula sighed. "Fine, I guess we'll just have to end the game for now." He decided.

"You're leaving?" Ruby was surprised.

"Like hell you are!" Asta yelled. "You still have to pay for all the people you killed today! I'm not just going to let you run away from all that!"

"Seriously? You're actually planning to take revenge on behalf of the people who tried to have you executed?" Caligula laughed. "Oh man, you're something else, No-Magic Brat."

"But don't worry, I'm not going to leave just yet." Caligula smirked as he raised his sword into the air. "Consider this a parting gift, from your judge, jury and executioner!"

Yami immediately stepped in front of Asta and the others. "Everyone, stay back!" He yelled, coating his katana in Dark Magic.

 _That level of Mana…_ Noelle gasped in surprise. _The Captain is serious! And so is Caligula! My God, this clashing of Mana is unbelievably intense!_

"Mana Zone: Blade of Divine Retribution: Heavenly Fissure!" Caligula yelled, swinging downwards.

"Mana Zone: Dark Cloaked Dimension Slash - Equinox!" Yami yelled, swinging downwards as well, sending powerful darkness magic that could cut through dimensions.

Suddenly, there seemed to be a tear in space itself as the ground suddenly split into two sides around the group behind Yami. Two immensely powerful spells clashed together. Darkness seemed to tear through space itself, due to the spell literally being designed to cut through dimensions, but the area around Yami and his group was not so lucky. The sheer force behind Caligula's own attack practically vaporized the ground around them, and even destroyed two thirds of what was left of the courthouse. Unfortunately, Augustus was not among that destruction.

Caligula smirked as he vanished, leaving the Dimension Slash to travel harmlessly onwards. "The son of a bitch ran off!" Yami yelled indignantly.

"Maybe we should consider that a blessing." Finral whimpered, looking at all the destruction around them, thanking every god that would listen he was not among it.

Everyone slowly returned to normal to catch their breaths. "That level of Mana was incredible." Noelle shivered in fear. "I can't believe the Cult found such a strong ally."

"If he's that strong, then we're super strong." Asta brightly pointed out, trying to cheer everyone up. "After all, we made him retreat, didn't we?"

"Asta," Sojiro said grimly, "I think that last attack of his was what he can usually do...when fighting with all his strength."

"Eh?" Asta blinked in surprise. "Wh-what do you mean by that?"

"Well, it's just a theory...but I think after he realized there was something wrong with his attacks missing, he just...stopped trying. He lost interest in fighting seriously when he realized that no amount of attacks would make a difference." Sojiro explained.

"Hold on, but he only had two attacks that were affected by Rouge." Vanessa pointed out, gesturing to the familiar perched on her shoulder. "You can't tell me he figured it out after one."

"Not necessarily the specifics, but I think he knew from the start something was wrong." Sojiro sighed. "Vanessa, I won't sugarcoat it, we owe you our lives. Were you not with us, he would've killed us for sure, whether it was because his magic is simply too fast to avoid or block, or because he did not have any reason to hold back."

Suddenly, an explosion rocked the ground around them. "Whoa!" Finral exclaimed. "Um, not to make the situation sound worse, but there _is_ still a war going on!"

"Finral's right, we need to get moving!" Sojiro exclaimed. "Everyone, stay together! We can't afford to be caught alone if we run into someone as strong if not stronger than Caligula!"

With that, Sojiro's current group ran towards the sounds of chaos to aid their friends. Meanwhile, Noriko stayed behind to continue treating Damnatio's wounds. _Be safe, everyone._ She pleaded.

Elsewhere, Caligula Kira heaved a sigh as he reappeared just outside of the capital. He took a look out at the destruction that was currently still going on. "A shame things had to end so soon," he said, "but, I suppose I've had my fun for today."

"You're back earlier than expected, Chief Justice Caligula." Caligula turned to see eight individuals clad in white robes. His fellow Magic Judges, the ex-assassins of Clover Kingdom.

"I ran into a bit of trouble." Caligula acknowledged. "Some mage was blocking all of my killing blows. You all should know that I quickly lose interest in a fight if I can't kill my opponents."

"You could always just kill civilians or other Magic Knights." One offered. "What about Julius?"

"I'm...in an odd way grateful to Julius." Caligula admitted. "Were it not for his expulsion, we would have remained under the thumbs of those fools from the Magic Parliament, and not just killing people because we want to. I'm going to leave him be...just this once."

"And as for not going after the rest of the capital?"

"Not interested," Caligula shook his head, "everything I do is because I want to. I want to kill people, so I do. I wanted to shut up those damn parliament members permanently, so I did. I wanted to join Cardinal Yakuma on his little quest, so I did. I'm _not_ interested in wasting my time ripping the wings off all the little butterflies in the capital...so I won't."

"Besides, as long as Cardinal Yakuma and his three Bishops are there, they're doomed regardless. I've had my fill of the kingdom's destruction." Caligula concluded.

"Che, we didn't get to have our fun though." Another Judge pointed out.

"You eight will get your chance later. There's still more to this kingdom than just the capital. And I do believe...we were promised the world as our murderous playground as well...even the universe if we survive."

"Now come on, we're heading back to the Diamond Kingdom. I'm sure the little prince would love to hear what has happened to his kingdom's sworn enemy."

"Chief Justice...he is a king now...and he is also your equal in battle." A Magic Judge corrected.

"I'll believe it when he actually fights me." And with that, the Nine Magic Judges vanished through Caligula's Spatial Magic.

Elsewhere, on the other side of the Capital's outskirts, Titania heaved a disappointed sigh as the destruction near the parliament building ended. "Oh damn, I guess Caligula lost interest." She pouted. "What a shame, I really wanted to see his masterful Spatial Magic a bit more."

"I frankly don't see why you're so interested, Lady Titania." A man wearing a laughing mask appeared next to her. "I'd say your farts are stronger than Caligi's Spatial Magic!"

Behind the masked man, a few individuals wearing robes with a stitched in design of a heart broken down the middle glared at the masked man for such crude language being used around a lady...their lady. However, Titania was not bothered. Rather, she was amused. "Crass as always, Puck." She said to the masked joker. "But...unfortunately a bit off. I don't even want to think of the destruction that would result if Caligula and I went head to head."

"Then again," Titania hummed thoughtfully, "if I ate spicy food like that one time...perhaps my...ahem, farts would be stronger than Caligula?"

"L-Lady Titania, please don't stoop to his level!" One of Titania's subordinates exclaimed in horror.

"Just a joke." Titania assured the concerned subordinate with a surprisingly affable smile on her face. "Anyway, let's head back for now."

"Eh? But don't you want to join in, Lady Titania?" Puck asked. "I mean, you probably hate this place just as much as you do the Heart Kingdom, since Jule-Jule is in charge. You two had such a bad argument, didn't ya? Ruined your friendship and all that?"

"That we did...but it doesn't change the fact that Julius and I were good friends, once upon a time." Titania said with a sigh. "I guess I'm a bit more sentimental than I realized. But, I just can't bring myself to destroy my dear friend's old home at the moment. I'll leave it be for now. A final favor for an old friend."

"You're too kind, Lady Titania! The kindest destroyer in the universe!" Puck said with a cheer. "Three cheers for the kindest destroyer in the universe!"

Titania nodded. "Now then, we're going back to Heaven." She told everyone around her. "I would like to return to my research, and the Mana surrounding Heaven is so amazingly dense. Why, it surpasses even the Sea Temple, the most dangerous of the Grand Magic Zones."

"Just thinking about it makes me all giggly and tingly." Titania acknowledged with a big, bright smile on her face. "Heaven is a perfect place to research the limits of magic!"

Titania's subordinates all bowed in agreement. "Alrighty then, Heartbreakers, we're moving out!" Titania ordered her magic militia of Heart Kingdom exiles and mages she has recruited herself over the years.

And so, the Heartbreakers all followed Titania away from the crumbling capital city of Clover Kingdom.

As the two groups of mages retreated of their own volition from the capital, the Cult continued to destroy everything they came across. Bishop Enshiro continued to clash with Jack the Ripper.

"Erupting Meteor Fist!" Enshiro yelled, firing intensely hot molten lava from his fists, launching them at Jack like cannonballs.

"Severing Magic: Death Scythe: Lunatic Slash!" Jack yelled, growing to blades on his arms with Mana before swinging them wildly, sending slashes that cut right through Enshiro's lava projectiles.

Enshiro smirked at Jack's display of strength. He was enjoying this fight more than he had expected. Now though, it was time to get up close and personal. Lava erupted explosively from his feet, the force of the eruption rocketed Enshiro forward. His entire right arm turned red hot. "Molten Gauntlet!" Enshiro threw a powerful lariat at Jack.

Jack threw one of his blades forward, blocking Enshiro's lariat. _This will give my blades a chance to adapt to his weird powers, allowing me to cut through them even more easily than before. This is where my Severing Magic shines!_ Jack declared.

"You fool." Enshiro grinned, shocking Jack by grabbing his blade and then propelling himself above Jack.

"I don't fear pain!" Enshiro declared as he pointed both of his palms down at Jack. "And I certainly don't fear the likes of you! Volcanic Cannon!"

"Oh crap!" Jack yelled as he was blasted at point black.

"Captain Jack!" Sekke yelled in worry, still cowering off to the side but unable to bring himself to aid him.

Enshiro landed. "I can't believe the Magic Knight Captains are this freaking weak." He scoffed. "I was really looking forward to this fight, too. Especially after the Eight Shining Generals turned out to be so damn disappointing."

Jack then stepped out of the lava, cracking his neck and glaring at Enshiro. "Of course those losers from the Diamond Kingdom were no challenge." He said angrily. "You want a real fight? You should've come after us from the start!"

Enshiro laughed. "You can't be serious!" He exclaimed. "In case you haven't noticed, Captain Jack, but you're not faring any better. The only compliment I can possibly give you is that you haven't melted down to your bones just yet."

Jack growled. "I'll teach you not to look down on me." He said, raising his right arm.

Jack's blade suddenly grew to massive size. The size of a large building. "Eh?! Captain Jack you're using that?!" Sekke exclaimed in disbelief.

"You better stay back you damn coward." Jack told him.

Enshiro whistled in appreciation. "Now that's more like it." He grinned. "Alright then, hit me with your best shot, Captain Jack. Erupt with every ounce of power you've got!"

"Gladly!" Jack yelled. "Severing Magic: Death Scythe: Devil's Blade!"

Jack swung the giant scythe downwards. Enshiro grinned. "Burn it all." He said lowly before shouting. "In the name of our god!"

At that moment, the entire area around Enshiro suddenly transformed into lava. His very Reiki was transforming the surrounding environment. "Hell Eruption!" He yelled, as several spouts of lava shot up around him before combining into one massive eruption that clashed against Jack's blade.

Jack winced from the force of the blow but tried to push back against it so that he may cleave Enshiro in half. However, it was to no avail and Jack was pushed off his balance, much to his shock. His giant scythe reverted to regular size. "Now die!" Enshiro yelled, holding out his palms at Jack once more. "Volcanic Cannon!"

"Captain Jack!" Sekke yelled, unable to stop himself from acting to protect his captain, in spite of his own cowardice. His grimoire suddenly flipped pages like crazy as a new page was added.

"Bronze Creation Magic!" Sekke gestured to Jack. "Sekke's Heroic Ball of Protection!"

Jack gasped as he was suddenly surrounded by a spherical shield of Bronze Magic. The Volcanic Cannon destroyed it, but could not strike Jack. "The useless coward?" Enshiro raised an eyebrow in surprise at Sekke's sudden act.

Enshiro shook in anger before exploding. "Freaking gnats!" He screamed as his entire body was coated in lava before leaping into the air and spinning about. "Molten Storm!"

Sekke and Jack both gasped in surprise as Enshiro fired off lava in nearly every direction possible. "Oh no!" Sekke yelled in fear. "I just had to stick my nose in!"

"Che…" Jack sighed, bracing himself for death.

Suddenly, two whirlwinds sprung up around Jack and Sekke. "It appears we arrived just in time, Sir Jack." A familiar voice spoke up.

"Oh great," Jack sighed, "of all people to be saved by. It just had to be you. And I just got saved by my useless coward of a defense mage, too. Can I just freaking die, instead?"

Enshiro scowled. "You people...just coming out of the damn woodworks to burn, huh?"

Standing atop a building was the portly Captain of the Purple Orcas, Kaiser Granvorka, brandishing his grimoire for battle. Standing behind him was his Vice Captain, the so-called Saint of Pure Ice, Xerx Lugner.

"I will take that as a thank you, Sir Jack." Kaiser said calmly. "Now then, let us crush this foe together. Are you ready, Xerx?"

"Of course, Captain Kaiser." Xerx nodded, brandishing his own grimoire.

Elsewhere, Charlotte Roselei and Sol Marron were forced on the defensive by their own foe, Bishop Mirai. What they had failed to take into account was that Mirai's rather unique Art: Cloud, was capable of creating large-scale destruction...when used on a large scale. Like say, filling up the area around them with storm clouds, as though it were the sky they were fighting in. "Million Storm Clouds!" Mirai said as the clouds darkened and fired powerful lightning bolts at Charlotte and Sol.

"Keep dodging, Sol!" Charlotte ordered her close subordinate.

"R-right!" Sol frantically nodded as the two danced around the lightning.

Mirai yawned in boredom, sitting on a fluffy white cloud. "Oh dear, I'm going to fall into a nice, blissful nap at this rate." She noted. "I wish I had Mu-Mu and Enshi's energy. Then Cardinal Yakuma wouldn't scold me so much for my sleeping habits."

Charlotte turned her attention to Mirai. _Take her out, and all these clouds go away._ Charlotte noted, pointing her sword at Mirai. _Perhaps it's time to use that spell the elf that had possessed me use._

"Briar Magic!" Charlotte yelled, creating a giant spear of vines and briars. She threw her hand forward. "Crimson Vine Spear!"

Mirai, in spite of her seeming drowsiness, perked up when she saw the attack coming towards her. "That won't do." She said. "Blizzard Cloud."

Charlotte watched in shock as several clouds flew in front of Mirai and blew out snow that enveloped her Crimson Vine Spear. Charlotte shivered when she felt the temperature around her drop. Then, she watched as her Crimson Vine Spear suddenly froze over and shattered from the temperature drop. "Too bad." Mirai said in a sing-song tone of voice and a bright smile on her face.

"That's…" Charlotte muttered in disbelief.

"Sis's attacks are being…" Sol trailed off, unable to comprehend it.

Mirai floated upwards. A massive cloud suddenly formed above Charlotte and Sol. "You were really trying." She acknowledged. "Throwing an attack that powerful at poor, poor me."

"I think," Mirai continued, "that I'll do the same now."

"That cloud…" Charlotte paled in fear as it turned pitch black.

"Bye bye now," Mirai said brightly, "Jupiter Storm Cloud!"

And with that, a bolt of lightning the size of a castle's tower, rained down onto Charlotte and Sol. "Briar Magic!" Charlotte called upon every ounce of magic she had for one single defensive spell. "Secret Garden!"

With that, a dome of briars and vine appeared and protectively covered both Sol and Charlotte. "Oh? Not a bad idea." Mirai noted in interest. "But...I wonder if that will actually work. My Jupiter Storm Cloud is actually very strong."

Indeed, as soon as the lightning bolt hit, the area around the dome was completely vaporized. The force of the blast carried for miles, sweeping up fleeing civilians. Slowly, the dome began to crumble apart, much to Mirai's amusement.

"I win." She said with a dark smile on her face.

Then, much to Mirai's surprise, beneath the briar dome, was a dome composed of earth. However, that dome was significantly weaker. It crumbled away much faster than the previous dome. But, when the lightning finally touched down, it was significantly weaker than it should have been thanks to both defensive spells. "Aww, there was supposed to be an earth-shattering kaboom." She lamented, her dark smile wiped away.

In spite of their efforts, Charlotte was still left heavily injured by the blast and drained of mana. She looked at the falling earth around her and turned to see Sol, already on her knees and covered in her own blood. "Sol!" She choked out.

"Sis...sorry...that was...all the magic I had." Sol said weakly before passing out.

Charlotte was suddenly surrounded by several clouds. "It seems you're just about out of Mana." Mirai noted.

Charlotte glared defiantly at the Bishop. "I won't miss this time." Mirai taunted before suddenly having her arms forced to her sides.

"Eh?" Mirai muttered in surprise.

Suddenly, chains appeared, restraining Mirai. Two shady-looking men appeared before her. "We were just going to walk away, girl." Said the portlier one of the two. "But you just kept blasting the area with lightning, we had no choice but to step in."

"And we were finally going to make a run for freedom while those other three were taken to God knows where." A slim man with a scarred face added. "What a day this turned out to be. At least we were able to get away from community service supervised by that damn Jack."

"Gueldre? And...wait, is that…" Charlotte muttered in disbelief.

Former Captain of the Purple Orcas, Gueldre Poizot, stood next to his ex-subordinate and now arguably his only friend, Revchi Salik. Gueldre looked over at Charlotte. "Don't get the wrong idea, Roselei." He said. "I would frankly have much rather left you for dead, since saving you gains us nothing."

"Charming." Charlotte spat.

"The only reason I've stepped in," Gueldre continued, "was because this woman's wild attacks were putting us at risk. We shut her up, now we'll be taking our leave."

"That won't do." Mirai said with a pout. "Since you two made the mistake of attacking...now I've gotta kill you too."

"You idiot!" Revchi yelled. "Those chains seal magic. You can't escape!"

"You fool, she's not using magic!" Charlotte exclaimed.

Mirai then effortlessly broke through the chains with raw physical strength alone. "Well, to be fair, those chains were kinda messing with my Reiki control." Mirai admitted. "But, we're a lot stronger than we look...physically anyway."

"Who the hell is this crazy bitch?" Revchi wondered out loud.

"Don't be mean." Mirai pouted as several clouds appeared around her. "It's just going to make me want to kill you more than I already do."

As the chaos continued to rage on, Sojiro and his group continued to run through the capital. "It appears that most of the destruction is being contained to certain places." Sojiro noted. "We can at least take comfort in that."

"Yes, but there are so many strong fighters out there, it's insane!" Noelle exclaimed. "I can't believe these are the enemies you have to fight against, Grandmaster...no, the enemies _we_ have to fight against."

"So, what's the plan?" Yami asked.

"We stay together so that we can remain under the effect of Vanessa's fate-altering magic." Sojiro replied. "That's our safest bet in getting out of this alive."

"Izuku, Ruby, Asta, I want you three to fall back on your training and use what you know to survive. Do not worry so much about what I've already tried to teach you, you're not ready to apply any of it to the field just yet. Not that there's much there to help you with anyway."

"Yes sir," the trio said in unison.

Yami then felt his magic communication device flare up. "Hold up," he said, "I'm getting a call from the rest of the squad."

"The rest of the Black Bulls?" Finral was worried. "Are they okay?"

Yami activated the communicator. "What is it?" He asked.

"HELP!" Came the frantic voice of Magna Swing.

Yami grit his teeth from Magna's voice blasting into his ear. "Magna, I'm going to kill you for that!" He yelled.

"Get in line! Captain Yami, please help!" Magna frantically pleaded.

"Th-there's someone really strong attacking us!" Came Grey's voice. "Zora and Luck are down and Magna's hurt really badly too."

"Gauche, Gordon and Charmy are doing their best to hold this guy back, but they can't hold out much longer!" Magna yelled once more. "Captain, I'm sorry, we did our best...but this guy, he shrugged off everything he threw at us."

Yami's eyes widened. "Hang on tight, you guys, we're coming back to you."

"Yeah, don't worry, Magna, we're on our way!" Asta yelled into the communicator.

Yami hung up. "Not you, kiddo." He said. "You're staying here and helping out the old man."

"What? Why? Those are my friends in trouble too, you know!" Asta reminded him.

"I know, but this kingdom needs the Magic-less Freak who worked a miracle and slew a devil." Yami reminded him. "Do what you can right here, and Finral, Vanessa and I will do what we can on our end."

Yami then took a deep breath sensing for the Mana signatures of the rest of his squad. He grabbed onto Finral and Vanessa and leapt onto a nearby roof. "Finral," he said, "warp us to that point right there."

Finral saw where Yami was pointing. "Is that where the others are?" He asked.

"Yeah," he nodded.

"Yo, Gramps!" Yami yelled down at Sojiro. "You gonna be okay? You'll be without Vanessa for awhile."

"We'll be fine. We just need to be careful." Sojiro promised. "Go and help the rest of your squad, Yami."

Yami nodded. "Look after Asta and Noelle, got it?" He said before disappearing into Finral's portal, with Vanessa and Finral following close behind. The portal quickly closed.

"Damn it, we should be going with them!" Asta cursed in frustration.

"I agree, I can't do this knowing my friends are in trouble." Noelle nodded.

"I understand how you both feel, but look around you, it's not just your friends that are in trouble." Sojiro sternly reminded them. "These people intend to destroy and kill _everyone_. Not just your friends. Are you telling me you'd sacrifice everyone for your friends?"

"But...they're…" Noelle said softly.

Sojiro sighed. "Have faith in Yami and the others." He said. "As long as Vanessa's with them, they'll live. We need to worry about protecting ourselves until they return. We need to watch each other's backs. Do you two understand?"

Asta and Noelle both fell silent. Izuku stepped forward, giving the two a reassuring smile. "We're going to save as many people as we can, not just your friends." Izuku promised. "It's going to be alright."

"Yeah, we need to think about everyone, you guys." Ruby reminded them.

Asta took a deep breath, realizing that they were all correct. "Yeah," he said, "yeah, you're right. Okay, let's go find who needs the most help, and-"

Asta was suddenly cut off by a loud crash. "What was that?" Noelle exclaimed.

"An enemy ambush!" Shogo added.

Asta then picked up a life signature and his eyes widened. It was not an enemy ambush, it was the result of an enemy attack. The dust cleared, and Asta got a good look at how had fallen against the enemy.

Suddenly, a massive behemoth of a man leapt onto the rooftop Yami and the others had just been. "Thank you for that display of strength," said Yakuma, "though it was not much compared to mine, I'll be sure to remember it. Know that I gladly destroy you out of respect for your efforts."

Ruby's eyes widened, going pale with fear at the sight of the man. _Oh Gods,_ she thought fearfully, _he's as powerful as the Cardinal from back then…_

Izuku looked like he was going to faint from the mere presence of this man. _Who is this guy? He's on a completely different level from everyone else._

 _Damn,_ Sojiro thought in frustration, _of all the enemies we could've run into!_

 _This power…_ Noelle thought fearfully. _One man should not have this much strength!_

Asta, however, had his eyes entirely on Yakuma's victim. For it was a young man he knew too well. He had long reverted to his original form, bloodied, broken and beaten. His dark hair mixed with blood red. His four-leaf clover grimoire laid next to him.

"YUNO!" Asta screamed with horror and grief.

Meanwhile, deep within Asta's heart, a demonic entity began to laugh madly. _**It is time.**_ It noted with a dark, demonic smile on its face.


	19. Chapter 19: The Destroyer

**A.N: Hell of a cliffhanger last time, huh? Well, fear not. That's about to be fixed.**

 **But, a couple quick announcements. So, I've received a couple messages about my current posting schedule. I've given it some thought, and I realized: you're right, a month is a long wait. And I do tend to finish some of this stuff before the month is done and then I'm just sitting on it.**

 **So, I'm going to try something new. When I finish something, I will post it as soon as I've reviewed it and I'm done with it. The goal will still be to try and post one thing for each story once every month. But, I will no longer wait until the first of the month. I might also, on a weekly basis, update the progress on the chapters on my profile.**

 **Anyway, I hope everyone enjoys this chapter.**

 **Chapter 18: The Destroyer**

As the battle raged on outside, he found himself more and more absorbed in the personal project he had undertaken before this chaos had all begun. To be honest, if you asked him why he was now, more than ever, meticulously analyzing the object before him, he could not tell you for certain.

For Julius Novachrono, this Time Seal that had been brought before him by the Watchers...could very well be the only way he could ever be of any use to his allies again. It could very well be the only way he could help his precious subordinates and his kingdom.

Meanwhile, black matter began to envelop Asta's body. His eyes began to glow a devilish, frightening red. Izuku and Ruby both gaped at the changes Asta was undergoing in shock. "Asta?" Izuku tried to reach his friend. "Hey Asta!"

Asta ignored Izuku. He simply held his mouth open in a silent scream. The black matter continued to cover Asta's body. Ruby paled in horror, finding herself shaking from this sinister feeling washing over her. _This sensation...it's just like back at Haven, when Emerald made that illusion of Salem._ She realized.

Noelle was also mortified by what she was seeing. Her mind was flashing back to that awful incident in the Witches Forest. "Please no," she moaned in horror, "God no, not again."

Sojiro then stepped in. He did not fully understand what was happening with Asta just yet, but he did understand one thing: he needed his help. "Asta!" He called out in a booming voice. "I know you're angry...but I also know that you can still hear me! You will accomplish nothing going down this path!"

Asta seemed to ignore Sojiro. The black matter continued to envelop his body. Black wings made from that matter then sprouted from his back. "Asta!" Sojiro called out once more. He gave the boy a worried expression. "Damn, I'd prefer not restraining him by force...Shogo!"

"Understood!" Shogo sped towards Asta with Meteor. "My heroic companion! You must not lose yourself to your inner darkness! Whatever your rage…"

Asta calmly backhanded Shogo away from him, knocking Shogo into the ruins of a nearby building. "Shogo!" Ruby yelled at him in concern.

Sojiro's eyes widened at the sight. _Oh Gods...we're too late. We can't reach him!_

As all of this happened, Yakuma just laughed at the sight. "So this is the devil-boy I've heard so much about." He noted. "The no-magic Magic Knight that's been all the rage lately. It seems I just made a mortal enemy through my brutality towards Yuno."

"Yes, that's it!" Yakuma exclaimed. "Despise me, devil-boy. If it fuels your power...grants you greater heights of strength, then despise me all you wish! I want to see you at your best before I destroy you!"

Asta completed his transformation. His eyes crimson red and his body covered in the black matter that was anti-magic. "Asta!" Noelle yelled, desperately trying once more to reach her friend and crush. "Asta, please, snap out of it! Asta!"

Yakuma laughed. "Foolish girl, I can sense it. Your words can no longer reach him. I don't even think we're talking to Asta any longer. Isn't that right, Devil?"

Asta remained silent. "Hmm...I don't think I have a name to call you yet." Yakuma noted. "That's fine, I suppose I'll just have to end your life as 'Asta'. Either way, I will keep the memory of your strength in my heart forever! Now come at me!"

Asta growled at Yakuma before vanishing in a streak of black matter. Yakuma gasped slightly. That speed was impressive. Almost terrifying. Asta then reappeared in front of Yakuma and spoke a single word. **"Die."**

Yakuma instinctively held his arm out and blocked a swing from the Demon-Dweller Sword. Yakuma narrowed his eyes slightly, feeling the bones in his arm creak from the blow. Asta let out a demonic yell at the Cardinal, exerting more strength and forcing Yakuma backwards. He then pointed the Demon-Dweller Sword at Yakuma and charged forward, striking him in the chest.

Yakuma grit his teeth, he could feel his ribs creak. Whatever this devil was, it was something truly dangerous. **"Bull Thrust!"** The possessed Asta yelled in that demonic tone of voice of his, continuing to charge forward, hoping to apply enough force to actually _rip_ through Yakuma's body, even though the blade itself was blunt.

Yakuma regained his composure and looked down to see that Asta was pushing him backwards. His feet were skidding across the ground. Yakuma could not help but laugh at the new situation he was in. "I see, I see!" He exclaimed. "So it would seem that devils are the true superior species in this world. From what I gathered, I had originally believed those legendary elves were the strongest…"

"But it appears I was wrong!" Yakuma roared before punching Asta square in the face, stopping the possessed Magic Knight in his tracks.

Yakuma's eyes then widened when he realized his punch had barely fazed Asta. Asta grabbed Yakuma's wrist and forced his fist away from his face. "Are you trying to toss me away now, Asta?" Yakuma inquired. "I don't care if you do have the strength of a devil now, don't think you can throw me aside like yesterday's trash!"

Yakuma and Asta then separated from each other. Asta quickly took flight. His grimoire suddenly floated out in front of him. Almost instantly, he was wielding both the Demon-Dweller and Demon-Slayer Swords. He pointed both blades at Yakuma. _That's a new stance._ Noelle noted.

" **Raging Bull!"** Asta yelled as two pointed lines of Anti-Magic were fired from both of his swords.

Yakuma easily avoided the attacks. Asta's allies watched in shock as the the two pointed beams of Anti Magic collided with the ground, digging across them like trenches. "Hold on," Noelle spoke up, "that Anti-Magic is supposed to hone in on power, right?"

"No, not power, only magic." Sojiro shook his head. "This Cardinal...he's not using magic. No one from my world does. Asta's weapons are useless against him."

"Well, even if it isn't Asta at the moment, at least he's keeping up with this Cardinal." Ruby tried to offer some hope. "That's gotta count for something, right?"

"Yeah...but this Cardinal's physical specs are insane." Izuku noted, desperately trying to follow Yakuma's movements. "I...I think he might be as fast as All Might!"

Yakuma went on the offensive now. He appeared behind Asta and threw another haymaker at the possessed boy. Asta spun around and blocked the punch with his two swords, only to be knocked back by the force of the blow. "He sent him flying!" Shogo exclaimed.

"By a single blow he blocked, that's insane!" Izuku gasped.

Ruby's eyes widened. "He's just as strong as the Cardinal we met in my world." She realized.

Asta flapped his wings and stopped his momentum. However, Yakuma refused to let up. He leapt at Asta once more from a rooftop, propelling himself towards the possessed boy. "Destruction Fist!" Yakuma threw another powerful haymaker at Asta.

Asta blocked once more. However, once again, the attack only sent him sailing. The collision created a resounding boom that kicked up the wind around their fight. He hit the ground with such force that it caused a small earthquake around him that destroyed the crumbling buildings around him.

"What was that?" Noelle demanded in shock.

"Something's off about him." Shogo noted in a surprisingly sage tone.

"What do you mean?" Izuku asked curiously.

"Watchers have always mixed their Arts with direct fighting styles, such as swordsmanship, martial arts, long-ranged fighting, whatever you can think of." Shogo explained. "It is how we train our bodies and our special powers that we're each blessed with at birth. Like how I use Meteor to enhance the momentum of my attacks."

"But...while I can sense Reiki coming from his attacks now, there's something off...he should be using his own Art in conjunction with his attacks. Doing so is practically ingrained within our DNA. The fact that he isn't...it's almost like he doesn't even have an Art."

"It's not unheard of." Sojiro acknowledged. "A few of Menou's best do not have Arts to call their own. It's a rare condition that some are simply born with. They make up for it with hard work in using their Reiki to enhance their bodies."

"However, we cannot rule out this Cardinal having an Art." Sojiro continued. "Perhaps...he simply doesn't feel the need to yet. And if he doesn't...well, that's concerning."

"Regardless, his strength is incredible." Izuku acknowledged. "The way the impacts of his punches create actual windstorms...it's like I'm looking at a full-powered Smash from All Might as well!"

Izuku clenched his fist. "That tears it...I've gotta get in there and help Asta!"

"Right with you!" Ruby added.

"No," Sojiro grabbed both of them, stopping them.

"What, why?" Izuku demanded. "If that Cardinal really is that powerful we should be giving Asta all the help he can get!"

"Izuku, that is not Asta right now." Sojiro told him. "He's been possessed by the devil living inside of his grimoire. The best thing we can do is allow this to play out. If this Cardinal is stronger than Asta, we need to let him beat this devil back into submission and give us Asta back."

"No way! How is that a good plan?" Noelle demanded with Ruby nodding in agreement.

"It's not," Sojiro admitted, "but it's the only plan we've got. If any of us tried to interfere, I seriously doubt that...thing that has possessed Asta would welcome our aid. In fact, if by some miracle he manages to incapacitate the Cardinal, I can imagine he'll come after us next."

Sojiro gasped. "The boy whose injuries caused Asta's possession!" He exclaimed, remembering the state that boy had been left in.

Ruby and Noelle immediately sped to the injured Yuno's side. "These wounds are terrible." Ruby paled in disbelief, looking down at Yuno's broken body. "I still can't believe how brutal these people can get."

"Damn," Noelle grit her teeth in frustration, "where's a healing mage when you need one? Why'd we have to leave Noriko with that damn Damnatio"

As the group fussed over Yuno's severe injuries, Yakuma continued to press his assault on Asta. "It's a damn good thing he's forced to fight from that boy's significantly weaker body." Yakuma acknowledged, advancing on the crater he had left Asta in. "Something tells me this fight would be significantly more difficult if I had to fight the actual devil that lives inside of him."

"A shame, I'd much rather slay this devil while he's in the flesh...but I guess that's just the way it goes." Yakuma sighed.

Suddenly, Asta came rocketing out of the crater he had been left inside. Before Yakuma could react, Asta slammed one of his swords into Yakuma's stomach and flew upwards, taking Yakuma with him.

"Whoa!" Izuku yelled.

"A black shooting star...climbing into the sky." Sojiro muttered.

"Much better!" Yakuma yelled to Asta. "You're really compensating for the lack of strength you have when forced to fight in this form!"

" **...You will pay for looking down on me, Outsider!"** Asta yelled. **"Black Meteorite!"**

Asta swung the blade, slashing past Yakuma. Yakuma's eyes widened. Asta-or rather, this devil-had just hit him harder than literally anyone he had fought against since coming to this world. And to be honest, he absolutely loved it. Asta resummoned his second sword. **"Fall to pieces!"** Asta yelled. **"Black Divider!"**

Asta swung downwards, striking at Yakuma with a slash empowered by Anti-Magic. This time, it was Yakuma who was causing the miniature earthquake as he hit the ground. Sojiro and the others were nearly forced off balance by the impact.

"I...I can't believe something so powerful was hiding inside of Asta's grimoire." Izuku muttered in disbelief.

"So this is the power of devils," Sojiro noted, "well, now I can't say I don't understand some people's paranoia when it comes to their existence...even if it is often misplaced and misused."

Noelle looked like she wanted to weep at the brutality of Asta's attacks. "Yeah...that's definitely not Asta." She choked. "Asta...is kind and gentle, even when he is fighting the enemy. He would never attack someone so brutally, unless they're pure evil, like the last devil he fought against. That thing isn't Asta!"

"Noelle…" Ruby muttered softly, unable to say anything to comfort the girl.

"Noelle!" Noelle gasped at the familiarity of the voice.

"Mimosa!" Noelle yelled as Mimosa Vermillion came running into view, flanked by her superior, a Golden Dawn Mage by the name of Klaus Lunettes.

"It's pure chaos out here!" Klaus exclaimed. "What are you…"

Klaus and Mimosa trailed off when they saw Yuno's broken body. "Yuno!" They exclaimed in unison, running to his side.

Mimosa quickly went to work. "Plant Healing Magic: Princess-Healing Flower Robe!" She exclaimed, covering herself in a dress composed of leaves and flowers with wing-like ornaments on the back.

Magic quickly poured itself into Yuno as Mimosa desperately tried to heal him. Meanwhile, Yakuma rose up from the crater he had been placed in and glared at Asta. "Who is that?" Mimosa wondered, trying not to break her focus.

"He...radiates power!" Klaus immediately realized, frozen in fear.

Asta then flew down in front of them. "Is that...Asta?!" Klaus gasped.

"No, he's been possessed." Noelle shook her head. "Yuno...when he saw Yuno like this, he just snapped."

Klaus gazed at Asta in sympathy, noting inwardly that this kind of response was something he would expect from the Black Bulls Magic Knight. Yakuma, meanwhile, heaved a sigh. "You actually think I'm looking down on you?" He inquired. "You fool, I never look down on anyone. Everything I take the time to destroy...receives the utmost respect."

Asta remained silent at this. "I climbed the ladder of the universe's food chain to get where I am today. It is for that very reason I destroy the world around me with joy...because I earned that right to impose my will after crawling my way from the bottom. That's just how it is in the world. The weak are swept aside and the strong thrive and impose their will on others. And it's because of that...that I respectfully acknowledge the efforts of all whom I destroy...because once upon a time, those I kill would've been higher up than me."

"Disrespecting you?" Yakuma repeated. "Bah, don't be a fool. I have nothing but respect for you."

"And to show you that respect." Yakuma reached down and raised his battleaxe. "I will grant you a proper end. Experience the might of my battleaxe, Calamity."

Yakuma gripped the battleaxe tightly in his right hand. Asta glared at Yakuma and prepared to strike down the Cardinal once more. Asta flew towards Yakuma. Yakuma, meanwhile, vanished with the use of Vanishing Walk. "Slashing Calamity!" Yakuma's voice boomed as he and Asta collided.

Then, much to the horror of Sojiro and everyone else, Asta suddenly went flying in the air. Blood flew from his torso. The possessed boy landed on the ground and remained there, immobile. The Anti-Magic surrounding his body slowly began to fade. "What was that?" Ruby demanded. "They moved so fast...I didn't see what happened!"

"I barely saw it," Sojiro admitted, "in a brief second, Asta had trained both his swords on the Cardinal's neck. He had tried to decapitate him. However, the Cardinal was faster...he drove his axe blade into Asta's stomach. The force of that one swing was incredible."

"And he knocked him out in one blow!" Izuku exclaimed before calling out to the downed boy. "Asta! Are you okay? Asta!"

"Don't bother, boy." Yakuma responded. "He won't be getting up from that blow. Still, to think he'd be in one piece after that attack. I honestly was expecting to cut him in half from that attack. Hmm...the Anti-Magic must've protected his body from the worst of it."

"Asta!" Noelle yelled, horrified at seeing him in this state.

Yakuma walked over to Asta's unconscious form. "Regardless of who you currently are...I'll make sure to grant you an end befitting someone of your power." Yakuma promised.

"Like hell you will!" Noelle did not hesitate. The girl's grimoire floated in front of her as she trained every ounce of her power on this bastard for what he had done.

"Oh?" Yakuma sensed Noelle's power level and killing intent and turned his attention to her. "Is there something you would like to say to me?"

"Plenty!" Noelle yelled. "I'm Noelle Silva of the Black Bulls, and you will get the hell away from Asta!"

Yakuma grinned. "Or what?" He challenged.

"Or I'll blow you away!" Noelle responded.

Yakuma gasped when he sensed a presence right next to him. He turned just in time to see Shogo fleeing with Asta's unconscious form. "Nice work, Shogo!" Sojiro complimented as the legend in his own mind appeared next to him.

"All in a day's work!" Shogo saluted before turning to Noelle. "You've got a clear shot, Maiden of Water!"

"Water Creation Magic!" Noelle yelled as a mass of water in front of her began to take shape. "Sea Dragon's Roar!"

Yakuma watched in visible interest as a giant serpent made of water launched itself towards him. He simply planted his axe into the ground and stood in place as the dragon neared him. The dragon opened its maw and enveloped Yakuma completely.

"A direct hit!" Izuku cheered.

"No," Ruby moaned in horror, "there's...there's no way that did anything to him."

"Ruby?" Izuku gazed at Ruby in shock. Seeing the normally bubbly girl in such a state was a shock to him.

"Izuku...you didn't meet a Cardinal like I did, right?" Ruby was shaking, still remembering the hell that Higeki inflicted on her and her friends back at Remnant. "You don't know...the kind of terror those people bring. This...it's not enough to bring him down. We need a new plan or we're all going to die here."

Noelle's body heaved with rage, wondering if she had managed to strike down this monster for what he had done to Asta. After all, the Sea Dragon's Roar was her most destructive spell. He had to have at least felt that attack.

"You know, I actually do not dodge most attacks on purpose." Noelle paled, hearing Yakuma's voice from inside the cloud of dust that had been kicked up from the force of her attack. "Because truth be told, I want to show my foes that my hard work has meant something. That they can strike me as much as they want, but I shall never falter."

The dust cleared and Yakuma revealed himself, completely unharmed. He grinned mockingly at Noelle. "And I can't deny, seeing the looks on your faces after you fail is...quite satisfying. It's a great reminder that you shouldn't try to punch out of your weight class. But still, I must admit, that was a truly powerful attack. You could probably take out any Deacon if that attack connected."

"No way," Noelle muttered in shock, "he just...he just shrugged it off like it was nothing."

Sojiro and Shogo instinctively stood protectively in front of the otherworlders they had befriended. Yakuma laughed. "The legendary Grandmaster of the Menou Army, and his little stooge." He noted. "I heard all about you from Higeki. I'm surprised you've actually managed to survive this long, but if you're really going to try and take me on, then I'm afraid your luck has run out."

"It's too bad, looks like I'll be getting the credit for taking your heads!"

Before Yakuma could attack either man though, he sensed danger coming all around him. "Mercury Magic: Silver Spear!"

Yakuma gasped in surprise as several spears made of solid mercury converged on him. He quickly slashed each spear into nothing. Noelle gasped, recognizing that magic. At that moment, four individuals appeared in front of her. "Do not despair just yet, Noelle." Said Nozel Silva, who was leading the group. "Your final attack provided us the signal we needed to find the greatest commotion...and by extension the greatest threat to our kingdom's safety."

Noelle wanted to weep at her brother arriving to help her. She could not help but notice the faint hint of a reassuring smile on his face. "You did well," Nozel said to her, "now, let us take it from here."

"To think there would be someone strong enough to take down Asta and Yuno." Fuegoleon Vermillion noted, gazing at Yakuma. "We need to be smart here. Use the fact that there are four of us to our advantage."

"Smart but brutal!" Mereoleona Vermillion added with a feral grin. "If he's that strong, we can't hold back!"

Klaus and Mimosa both gasped at the fourth savior of the group. "Captain?" They gasped in disbelief, as they had expected the man to remain in a self-imposed exile for a bit longer.

William Vangeance, who had stepped onto the battlefield without his mask, kept his gaze solely on Yakuma, the man who had attacked one of his precious subordinates. "My atonement begins here." He said simply.

Yakuma just laughed at the sight, sensing their high amounts of Mana. "Four Magic Knight Captains?" He mused. "Oh, this is going to be good!"

"Grandmaster," Nozel said to Sojiro, "please, leave this one to us."

"Out of the question." Sojiro shook his head. "You four have no experience fighting someone like this. Allow me to aid you."

"Grandmaster, if I may be so blunt, I can sense it, your power is in decline." Nozel told him, shocking Sojiro with how perceptive the squad captain was. "I cannot say I understand the nature of your world's power compared to the magic in our world...but my sensory abilities are not to be taken lightly. I'm sorry, but I fear that you will only get in our way."

Sojiro lowered his head at this. _Damn, I've gone from one of the strongest...to someone who needs to be protected._ Sojiro lamented as Shogo gazed at the old man he admired so with empathy.

"And Noelle, I can tell you are worried for Asta." Nozel addressed his sister once more, making Noelle blush. "Never forget that grimoires evolve and gain new pages in response to the feelings and desires of their users."

"Now then," Nozel turned back to Yakuma, "Magic Knight Captains, let us show this cretin the price to pay for attacking our kingdom."

Vangeance, Fuegoleon and Mereoleona all nodded in agreement as the four Magic Knight Captains readied their grimoires, exerting their Mana to show Yakuma just how strong they were together. Yakuma just laughed in anticipation. "Well, I did plan to hunt you Magic Knight Captains down myself...that is, if my Bishops don't get to you first. Enshiro and Mirai seem to be having their fun, after all."

"You four coming to me like this," Yakuma continued, readying Calamity, "just makes it so much easier!"

"You're going to pay for everything you've done to our kingdom!" Fuegoleon passionately declared. "Flame Creation Magic: Leo Rugiens!"

A lion's head of fire appeared from Fuegoleon's open grimoire. The lion's head then opened its giant maw and blasted at Yakuma with a beam of fire. "Heh, I can feel the heat from here." Yakuma acknowledged before throwing a punch forward. "But Enshiro's lava burns hotter than your flames!"

The air pressure created from the force of Yakuma's punch actually put out Fuegoleon's flames. In spite of that, Fuegoleon smirked as the flames cleared and revealed that Mereoleona had actually leapt into the flames to hide her own attack. "Flame Magic: Calidos Brachium!" Mereoleona yelled, punching Yakuma square in the jaw with a fist of fire.

Yakuma flinched briefly before giving Mereoleona a feral grin. "Not bad!" He exclaimed.

Mereoleona rocketed back with her flames and prepared another attack. "Mana Zone: Calidos Brachium Barrage!" She yelled, firing off a barrage of fiery punches at Yakuma.

Yakuma just laughed. "I don't need to imbue my punches with flames to pull off something like that off!" He declared, punching back at the flames with his own volley of blows.

"I can match you no matter what you throw at me!" Yakuma declared. "Strong as you are, I think I'm stronger than you!"

"Don't forget there are more of us ready to show you our power, you beast of a man." Nozel Silva suddenly appeared above Yakuma, riding an eagle made of solid mercury. "Mercury Magic: Silver Rain!"

Yakuma looked up to see that Nozel had fired a massive amount of liquid mercury down towards him like a rainstorm. "Fine then!" He yelled, managing to pivot himself out of Mereoleona's range. He then took Calamity into his hands once more.

"Frenzied Calamity!" Yakuma yelled, swinging Calamity wildly around like a maniac. Vangeance, Fuegoleon and Mereoleona gasped in shock as Nozel's Silver Rain suddenly began to be shredded to nothingness before it could come into contact with Yakuma.

"He's so fast, just swinging his axe around like a madman is an effective defense." Fuegoleon noted.

"Mostly effective, but he has one opening." Vangeance noted. "World Tree Creation Magic: Missiletainn Spear!"

With his grimoire open, Vangeance created a small seed and tossed it into the ground in front of Yakuma. Yakuma raised a curious eyebrow before the ground started to shake. Suddenly, a giant tree trunk sprouted from the ground, fashioned into a massive spear. Yakuma grunted as the Missiletainn Spear struck him in the stomach before sending him airborne.

Fuegoleon and Mereoleona quickly reacted with attacks of their own. "You better give it your all, little brother!" Mereoleona cocked her fist back.

"Like I would ever embarrass you by half-assing a fight." Fuegoleon did the same.

"Flame Magic!" The two yelled in unison, punching forward, firing off two beams of fire from their fists. Fuegoleon's attack came from the fiery prosthetic arm he created with the aid of his magic. "Calidos Bracchium Spear!"

The two beams of flame struck Yakuma simultaneously, enveloping the Cardinal in a mighty explosion. "Another direct hit!" Klauss cheered.

"The only question is, did it actually have any effect." Noelle muttered.

A large mass fell from the flames. Cardinal Yakuma grinned as he landed on his feet. "That actually hurt a little." He acknowledged. "Wonderful!"

"World Tree Restraining Magic: Missiletainn Roots of Life!" Vangeance yelled.

Roots suddenly sprouted from the ground, wrapping around Yakuma and restraining him in place. "Oh?" Yakuma grinned in interest. "And these are what exactly?"

"These roots will drain you of whatever hellish energy you use in battle." Vangeance explained. "Once you are brought to heel, we'll crush you."

"So you claim, but I think you've failed to realize something rather...important." Yakuma claimed. "Roots only thrive when fed the nutrients that they actually like."

"What is your point?" Vangeance demanded.

"My point is...have you ever considered what would happen if you fed your roots something they were not meant to be fed? Techniques like these only drain the energy specified in your world. Don't underestimate Reiki!"

Vangeance then gasped as his roots suddenly began to wither away. "What is the meaning of this?" He demanded.

"You imbecile, the only thing that can drain Reiki are techniques that are originally designed to drain Reiki. Our energies are superior to yours and any other type of energy that exists in this universe. Trying to drain it like you just did? That's a fool's errand."

"Still, I must admit," Yakuma continued, looking at the destroyed roots, "if I had been anyone else with a different kind of power source, I might've actually been in trouble."

"So, you're William Vangeance." Yakuma grinned. "The man closest to becoming the Wizard King. You certainly live up to your reputation. Patolli sang like a caged canary when we asked him about people in Clover Kingdom we should keep an eye open for."

Vangeance's eyes widened. "Patolli?"

"Wait, the Eye of the Midnight Sun's leader? So he's with these bastards?" Mereoleona growled.

Yakuma laughed. "Not willingly. We're quite...apt at messing with people's heads to get them to see reason and put them on our side." He cruelly admitted. "Truth be told, we lured Patolli into a trap, beat the fool within an inch of his life, and then rewired his mind to think he was stricken down by you lot once more. And not just in self defense, he now believes you did it in cold blood!"

"No way," Noelle's eyes widened, "that's...that's horrible!"

"You monster," Fuegoleon growled, "have you no decency? How could you just wipe away people's memories so cruelly like that?"

"Well, it's not like I did it." Yakuma shrugged. "To be perfectly honest, the only reason I agreed to the whole thing is because I actually recognize the importance of getting powerful allies on our side, be it willing or unwilling."

"War's war, and not a popularity contest." Yakuma pointed out. "You prove that you deserve to survive and the ones you're trying to kill do not. That is war."

"In the end, Patolli simply was just another tool for our conquest. No reason for any hatred for that. This is war. Simple as that."

"Maybe," Vangeance snarled, "but you know something...any reason for me to go easy on you people now. Any reason for me to be merciful in the name of atonement for my past sins. It's all vanished without a trace."

"For the crime of toying with the hearts and minds of precious friends. For the crimes of trying to destroy my kingdom and my friends. I will make you suffer!" Vangeance yelled furiously.

"World Tree Creation Magic: Gathering Hands of Missiletainn!" Vangeance tossed several seeds into the air.

The ground shook and suddenly several giant wooden hands sprouted from the ground. Yakuma just laughed as he began swinging Calamity around. He destroyed the hands of Vangeance's Gathering Hands of Missiletainn. "Fall to ruin, bastard!" Vangeance screamed, continuing to create giant wooden hands.

"I will not allow such despicable acts to be unpunished." Nozel said in agreement. "Even if it is true that Patolli was a foe...I will not allow you to get away with this."

"Now you're speaking our language, Nozel." Fuegoleon grinned. "Let's bring this bastard down with our combined power!"

"Union Magic!" Fuegoleon and Nozel yelled in unison, firing beams of flame and mercury that combined into a silver and orange drill. "Silver Inferno!"

Yakuma gasped in surprise as the drill tore past the Gathering Hands of Missiletainn. "Damn, this is actually bad." He muttered, holding Calamity out in front of him to block the Silver Inferno.

Yakuma's eyes widened when he realized that he was actually being held in place by the Silver Inferno. The attack was so overwhelmingly powerful that he actually could not move from the attack.

"Thanks for holding him in place, boys." He heard Mereoleona speak up. "Now I'll finish him."

"Mana Zone!" Mereoleona's entire body suddenly lit up in flames. "Calidos Brachium Purgatory!"

With that, Mereoleona threw a volley of punches that quickly lit up in intense blue flames. Yakuma's eyes widened as he was quickly surrounded by these powerful blue flames. The behemoth actually yelled in pain as the entire area around him was completely incinerated, even the stones themselves.

"There's Captain Mereoleona's full strength!" Klaus cheered.

"We might actually have a chance to win with the captains fighting together like this." Mimosa added with a smile.

"Such strength." Sojiro commented.

"Yep, she's definitely not human." Shogo whimpered, remembering his first encounter with the super intense elder sister of the Vermillion Family.

Izuku and Ruby simply gaped in awe at the sheer power of the Squad Captains of Clover Kingdom. "No matter how strong these Cardinals are...this destructive force should be able to win this for us." Izuku muttered.

Ruby could not help but think along similar lines. "So powerful...we might actually have a chance to escape here alive."

Then, much to everyone's horror, a booming voice spoke up in the flames. "Calamity Burst!"

Something sped from the flames. Before Mereoleona could react, something tore right through her flesh, making blood fly through the air around her.

Vangeance gasped, trying to gauge the trajectory of this speedy attack, only to be struck in the chest by the same assailant. Vangeance let out a brief gasp before being launched into the air by the force of the blow. _Patolli...my friend...I'm sorry…_ He tearfully lamented.

"Sister! Vangeance!" Fuegoleon yelled as he and Nozel tried to raise defenses, only to feel their sides torn open by the axe of Yakuma.

Yakuma skidded to a stop behind the falling captains, grinning at those who remained. He looked horribly burnt, however. His entire body was nearly charred black. Everything except his pants had been burnt off. But somehow, this monster was still standing. Somehow, this monster had shrugged off World Tree Magic from the man closest to becoming the Wizard King, Union Magic from two very close rivals, and arguably the strongest attack from the strongest woman in the entire kingdom.

He had shrugged all of it off and was still ready for battle. "Alright, now who's next?" Yakuma demanded, looking at the horrified faces of everyone else. "Nobody? Aww, come on, you might have a chance with how hard those captains hit me!"

"Don't give up now! Come on, if you want to live past today that badly, then prove to the universe that you deserve to exist! Otherwise, you'll be wiped out faster than you can blink!"

"This strength and speed is unbelievable." Izuku muttered. "I've studied All Might so closely over the years...trying to properly scale his feats...and with what I found, I didn't think there'd be anyone who could come close to matching him."

"But this guy...this guy…"

Sojiro and Shogo instinctively stood in front of everyone else in defense. "Ah, finally, I get to see just what the living legend still has to offer." Yakuma grinned.

"You really are a monster, if you still want to fight after taking all the attacks you have." Sojiro noted.

"A monster, am I?" Yakuma laughed. "Well, perhaps. But is becoming a monster truly such a bad thing? I became what I am through a mindset to avoid being destroyed by the world around me. Even though I lacked an Art of my own, I clawed my way to the top to become the monster you see before you. And you know what? I don't think that's such a bad thing at all!"

"So you really don't have an Art?" Sojiro narrowed his eyes.

"That's correct, what you see here is raw physical power, enhanced by my Reiki. "I had no intention of letting something like this slow me down, so I trained every other part of my body to the very peak of strength!"

"So all of his feats came from raw power?" Shogo was in awe. "That's unbelievable."

"So, you're a true man of hard work." Sojiro acknowledged. "Though overall you are despicable, your work ethic is certainly something to be respected. Had you not fallen in with such a rotten crowd, you might've made a true difference in this world. You could've been an example to so many youths back home."

"Forgive my bluntness grandmaster, but I don't give a damn about what I can do for the rest of the world."

"At the end of the day, I do all of this for my own sake. After all my efforts clawing my way to the top, it's within my right to enjoy my place there."

"But, as some of my comrades would say, arguing with the bleeding heart fools of Menou is a fool's errand." Yakuma shrugged. "This is where my gracious lecture ends. It is time for the Grandmaster's legend to have a bloody end."

Before Yakuma could leap towards Sojiro and Shogo, however, he suddenly sensed a new presence. He instead leapt backwards just in time to avoid a large blade that came crashing down on the spot he had been standing.

Sojiro and Shogo gasped at the sight of the new arrival. "Who is that?" Ruby and Izuku both wondered off on the side.

The attacker was a bearded, grey-haired man with a rough, aged face. He gripped the blade hard with his left hand, as his right hand was missing. No, his entire right arm was long gone. An eyepatch had also been placed over his right eye.

 _I sensed him just in time._ Yakuma noted. _I've actually taken some pretty decent damage from all the fights I've had. If I had allowed that blade to connect, I might've seriously felt that one._

Sojiro gasped, catching wind of this stranger's energy source. "Reiki?"

"Reiki," Shogo repeated, "it's a Watcher...but the only way one would be here is if he was a Traveler like us. Like how things went with Mitsuko-Sensei."

The eyepatched Watcher looked at Yakuma with his one good eye. Yakuma had caught onto the man's race as well and gazed at the man in amusement. "This is a shock. I didn't think reinforcements would show up."

"To be honest, I don't really consider myself reinforcements." The man admitted.

"Then what are you exactly?"

"Someone who's retirement and solitude you interrupted." The man responded.

Yakuma laughed. "Oh, I like you." He said sincerely. "State your name, sir."

The man cracked his neck and responded. "My name is Kinpatsu," he introduced himself, "and just as I said, I'm an old soldier who's retirement you just disturbed."

"Kinpatsu?" Sojiro looked at the man named Kinpatsu in confusion.

"What's wrong, Grandmaster?" Shogo asked curiously.

"That name...I don't recognize that name at all. I did my best to learn the name of every soldier I ever taught at the Royal Academy." Sojiro explained. "But the name Kinpatsu...it just doesn't ring a bell."

"What?" Shogo was stunned at this. He was trying to understand what this meant as well.

"Sir!" Sojiro called out. "Your name is Kinpatsu, yes? Please, allow us to fight alongside you!"

"I'm terribly sorry, but I cannot allow that." Kinpatsu responded.

"Why not? If we combine our forces, I'm sure we could defeat this man." Sojiro claimed. "It is a good strategy, Sir Kinpatsu. Please, allow us to fight alongside you!"

Kinpatsu sighed. "You're Travelers, yes? From the Kingdom of Menou?"

"That is correct." Sojiro nodded.

"Forgive me, but that is all the more reason for me to not fight alongside you. I'm sure your intentions are just as good as mine, but I cannot trust you with my life just yet." Kinpatsu claimed.

"Surely you jest!" Shogo yelled. "Why wouldn't you be able to trust us?"

"Because technically we are sworn enemies." Kinpatsu smiled. "I am a retired soldier from the Kingdom of Rakuen."

Sojiro and Shogo gasped in shock as Kinpatsu turned his attention back to Yakuma. "Now as for you…" He trailed off.

"No, no, nothing left to say." Yakuma grinned. "It's time we throw down!"

Kinpatsu narrowed his eyes as both men flared their Reiki in shows of intimidation. Both men then leapt at each other. As Yakuma and Kinpatsu began their dual to the death, Sojiro found himself still reeling over the revelation that this man was a retired soldier from his other adopted nephew's kingdom. Konton's kingdom, Rakuen.

He had so many questions for this man. Like what had Konton been doing since cutting all contact with his family? Why did Konton suddenly declare war on his brother and Menou. So many questions. And they had to survive today in order for him to see those questions answered.

Axe met sword as Yakuma and Kinpatsu stared each other down. Two, muscular arms bulged as both men tried to force the other off balance. "I can't believe you're still fighting at this level after all the attacks you've taken." Kinpatsu commented. "You really are strong."

Yakuma laughed. "Mind over flesh, friend! I don't wish to fall just yet, therefore my body will not fall. It's that simple."

"Considering your lack of an arm, it seems you could use a little mind over flesh as well!" Yakuma yelled, punching Kinpatsu right in the stump where his right arm used to be, expecting him to wince.

"That was a cheap shot!" Shogo exclaimed furiously.

Yakuma gasped, seeing that Kinpatsu had not flinched from the punch. "What, did you think I'd flinch from something like that? I've been living without my right arm for the better part of two centuries."

"Like hell that's going to work." With that, Kinpatsu bashed his head right into Yakuma's.

Yakuma grunted. Kinpatsu pulled his blade back and aimed it right at the Cardinal's neck. He would take Yakuma's head off with one swing and end this. Yakuma, however, quickly recovered and held his axe blade up, blocking Kinpatsu's swing. He then knocked the blade away and tried to go on the offensive himself. "Heavenly Calamity!" Yakuma raised his axe over his head.

The axe blocked out the sun for a brief moment before Yakuma swung his axe down towards Kinpatsu, intent on cleaving him in half.

Kinpatsu dodged the attack with Vanishing Walk and reappeared behind Yakuma. Kinpatsu then swung his giant blade at Yakuma's neck. Yakuma now used Vanishing Walk to escape the attack. The behemoth put some distance between the two men. Shogo gasped, catching onto something particularly interesting about the fight.

"He's actually dodging this Kinpatsu's attacks!" He realized. "He's actually concerned about fighting this man."

"It must be because he's fought so many battles where he's taken unnecessary damage." Sojiro noted. "He's now realizing that might not have been the best decision."

"Grandmaster, what do you make of Kinpatsu?" Shogo asked curiously.

"I don't know what to make of him, Shogo." Sojiro admitted. "He seems like an ally, but I'm honestly still trying to understand why a soldier from Konton's kingdom would be all the way out here. I'm trying to understand what has happened in Rakuen."

Shogo nodded in understanding. It was no secret that the Grandmaster cherished everyone in Menou. And it was definitely no secret that he especially cherished his adopted nephews, the kings of Menou and Rakuen. Meeting this Kinpatsu fellow had given Sojiro a unique opportunity to receive insight into what was happening with Konton after the man had left to rule over Rakuen.

"Not taking hostages?" Kinpatsu looked at Yakuma in surprise. "You're right in front of them you know. Don't you want to make things easier on yourself?"

"What the hell, don't suggest that!" Noelle screamed at the 'savior'.

Yakuma grinned. "Someone like me doesn't need to take hostages to prove himself. I'll crush you without resorting to tricks."

"Calamity Wave!" Yakuma yelled, swinging Calamity forward with enough force to actually create high-pressure blast of air that tore across the ground towards Kinpatsu. Kinpatsu held his massive blade out in front of him. He blocked the strike, but was forced off balance.

Sojiro's eyes widened. "That shouldn't be possible. Someone with that level of strength should be able to remain balanced and steady." He noted.

"What do you mean?" Shogo asked.

"No matter the level of strength, warriors always learn to stay steady on the field of battle, especially if they are swordsmen, or any other kind of weapon-user." Sojiro reminded Shogo. "I know I had the weapons instructors at the academy focus on balance, so I know this for a fact."

"So what then?" Shogo asked.

Sojiro studied Kinpatsu as Yakuma rushed the one-armed man once more. Kinpatsu was briefly forced on the defensive as he parried all of Yakuma's attacks. Wait...one-armed man. Sojiro gasped as he came to a conclusion about the issue behind Kinpatsu's fighting. "His arm."

"What about it?" Shogo inquired.

"Shogo...he's right handed. His right arm is gone. He's been fighting left-handed this entire time!" Sojiro revealed.

"That's...that's insane!" Shogo exclaimed. "Fighting with your non-dominant hand...that practically cuts your power in half! And then there's the fact he's missing an eye! That also debilitates your ability to fight effectively. And he's still holding his own!"

Sojiro nodded. _I don't know what happened to him...but if he had his dominant hand with him...there is no doubt he'd win this. And Shogo's right, though he's missing his right arm and his right eye he's still holding his own. He must've been quite the warrior when he had his dominant hand and both eyes._

"You are a monster." Kinpatsu acknowledged. "A true beast of strength."

Yakuma laughed. "You sound like you hate admitting to that." He noted.

"Perhaps I do." Kinpatsu shrugged. "After all, as much of a monster my king turned out to be...even he despises you people. Guess that's just the big difference between destroyers and conquerors, right?"

"Maybe," Yakuma agreed, "honestly, I don't care either way. I much prefer being a destroyer to a conqueror anyway. No matter how hard you try, conquerors will never be a hundred percent accepted by the people you conquer, after all. Much better to be a destroyer and leave only those who won't oppose you afterwards, you know what I mean?"

"I'd frankly prefer neither." Kinpatsu responded. "Conquerors...destroyers...just two different examples of ruthless men forcing their will on others. I have no use for either of them."

Kinpatsu then began raising his Reiki. "Either way, regardless of what you are...I'm taking you down. I'm retired...but I guess I just don't have it in me to ignore this." He claimed. "I'm going all out now."

Yakuma hummed thoughtfully. "Holding back on me, huh? Well, consider me intrigued!"

"You say that, but we both know you've taken far too many brutal hits. I'm going to end this." Kinpatsu promised.

"Now, Overheat!" Kinpatsu yelled as a red and orange aura surrounded his entire body in a manner similar to Mana Skin in the Grimoire World.

This was not lost on Klaus. "That's...Mana Skin?" He muttered in confusion.

"No, not Mana Skin," Mimosa spoke up in the middle of healing Yuno. She was making headway, but she did not know if she had enough Mana to save both Yuno and Asta. "I...I sense the same energy the Grandmaster has."

"The temperature just rose around us." Shogo noted.

"This must be Sir Kinpatsu's Art." Sojiro noted.

Mimosa whimpered, drawing the attention of both Shogo and Sojiro. "Mimosa, what's wrong?" Sojiro asked.

"Grandmaster...I don't know if I have enough Mana to save Asta as well...what should I do?"

This caught Noelle's attention. "What?" She exclaimed.

"Y-Yuno was hurt so badly. It took so much of my Mana just to get Yuno away from death's door...but Asta...Asta's hurt so badly." Mimosa admitted. "And the Magic Knight Captains are hurt so badly too. I...I don't know what to do?"

Ruby and Izuku gasped, running towards Asta. "Asta? Asta!" Ruby called out to the unconscious boy's form.

"Asta!" Izuku yelled.

Ruby immediately set to work, trying to transfer her own Aura into Asta to try and save his life. "No...Jaune makes it look so easy." Ruby muttered as tears welled up in her eyes. She would not be deterred, however. She desperately tried to save Asta's life.

 _Asta...Asta's going to die?_ Noelle registered Mimosa's statement finally.

Noelle walked over to Asta. _Not just Asta...but Nozel and the other captains as well._

 _Not like this!_ Noelle wailed inwardly. _My brother and I...we were finally reconciling. Finally becoming a proper family. And Asta...there were so many things I wanted to say to you...I can't...I can't let everything end like this!_

At that moment, Noelle's Grimoire floated in front of her, it rapidly flipped to the end as a new page suddenly appeared. Noelle's eyes widened, reading the writing before her. _I see...it's just like when I trained with Kahono to control my magic. It's love...love is what allows me to control my magic...grow my magic._

 _Asta, Brother, everyone, I'll save you!_ Noelle declared.

"Water Healing Magic!" Noelle yelled. "Sea Maiden's Holy Water!"

Suddenly, Asta and the Magic Knight Captains were surrounded by glistening water from the neckdown. Everyone gasped as their wounds started to close. "Noelle learned a healing spell." Mimosa realized.

"Amazing." Klaus smiled in admiration at Noelle.

Nozel briefly stirred. "Noelle…" He muttered, unconscious, sensing the efforts of his youngest sister.

Meanwhile, Yakuma grinned at Kinpatsu's sudden change in power. "Overheat?" He repeated. "I'm intrigued. So, is that the name of your Art, or is it a mere technique that originates from your Art?"

"The latter." Kinpatsu responded. "This is my Art: Heat. Overheat, however, surrounds my entire body in Reiki that stands at a couple thousand degrees fahrenheit. Creating armor that acts as an offense as well."

"Oh, I see." Yakuma grinned. "It makes you near impossible to touch, and that's the defense."

Yakuma laughed. "Unfortunately for you, I don't need to touch you in order to bring you down. I'll just blast you from a distance with flying slashes!"

"I don't think I'll let you." Kinpatsu suddenly appeared in front of Yakuma, making the Cardinal gasp in surprise.

Yakuma gasped as he was suddenly forced on the defensive by the former Rakuen soldier. He instinctively poured his Reiki into Calamity to keep the blade itself from melting from the seriously intense heat. "I'm amazed that blade of yours isn't melting!" Yakuma admitted in between parries.

"This is a specially forged sword." Kinpatsu revealed. "The one decent thing Sagi of the Nine Dark Circles ever did for me. It is known as Taiyomaru, a blade that can become as hot as the sun itself."

Kinpatsu and Yakuma continued to trade blows with each other. Yakuma grinned, noticing that Kinpatsu's attacks, while incredibly powerful, were also shaking. "Oh, I see." He spoke up in between attacks. "So you are right handed. That explains why your arm is shaking with each swing. I thought it was because you didn't have much technique, like me. But I manage to keep Calamity steady while swinging it."

"But you are different. With every swing, your sword arm shakes. And I know why that is. It's because it's not your sword arm. You're not left-handed and you're certainly not ambidextrous. You're right-handed, and you're missing your right hand. Hell, you're missing your entire right arm."

Kinpatsu grimaced at this. "So, what monster did you piss off that an entire arm was taken from you, huh?" Yakuma demanded. "Did they take your right eye as well?"

Kinpatsu glared at Yakuma. "Let's just say," he replied, "that Rakuen does not tolerate traitors and defectors. It is one of the cardinal rules of the kingdom."

"I escaped death...but I lost much regardless." Kinpatsu admitted.

"However, I still have my life!" Kinpatsu yelled. "And as long as I have that, I shall not yield."

Yakuma gasped as the heat surrounding Kinpatsu's body intensified further. _Wait, is he getting stronger?_

"Heat Wave!" Kinpatsu yelled, swinging Taiyomaru upwards, sending a wave of red-orange Reiki that crashed into Yakuma's chest. Yakuma let out a yell of pain from the intense heat that coursed through his body as he was sent flying through several nearby buildings.

"He's so powerful!" Izuku exclaimed.

"Amazing…" Ruby muttered breathlessly.

Elsewhere, in three different locations, three different individuals sensed the distress of their master. "Cardinal Yakuma!" Enshiro gasped, turning his attention away from Jack the Ripper, Kaiser Granvorka, Sekke Bronzarra and Xerx Lugner.

"Eyes forward, Scarface!" Jack yelled, sending a wave of Mana from his scythes.

Enshiro nonchalantly fired a ball of molten lava from his hand that canceled out Jack's attack. "Ice Magic: Ice Slicer!" Xerx yelled, sending a waves of giant icy spikes at Enshiro.

Enshiro stomped his foot and created a pool of lava that melted Xerx's ice. He then rocketed away, making his way to Yakuma's location.

Meanwhile, Mirai suddenly let out a gasp, becoming more alert than ever before. "Cardinal Yakuma!" She yelled in a concerned tone of voice like Enshiro had earlier.

Her eyes were wide, the sleepy look she had on her face was now long gone. Charlotte Roselei tried to summon enough of her strength to attack Mirai from behind, only for Mirai to suddenly speed away on the cloud she was standing on.

"What was that all about?" Charlotte wondered to herself.

Charlotte then noticed her two saviors had vanished earlier. "Damn, Gueldre and Revchi ran off. Bastards must've made a break for it as soon as that monster had been distracted."

Charlotte then looked at the severely injured Sol Marron. "I can't focus on any of that right now though, Sol needs serious medical attention." She noted.

Elsewhere, the third of the Bishop Triad of Destruction gasped, immediately abandoning his fight. "Cardinal Yakuma!" Musashi yelled.

"Oi, get back here!" Yami Sukehiro yelled, glaring at the retreating Musashi. "Dark Magic: Dark Cloaked Lightless Slash!"

Musashi easily avoided Yami's attack as he vanished with Vanishing Walk. Vanessa Enoteca and Finral Roulacesse looked at the scene before them in confusion. "The hell's that all about?" Vanessa wondered.

"Umm...we should just be glad that he ran off...for whatever reason." Finral pointed out. He looked back at his exhausted and injured squadmates. "The important thing is that we got here in time and everyone's okay."

Yami scowled. "What's wrong, Captain?" Vanessa asked curiously.

"I can't believe he ran off like that. I wanted to finish things." He muttered.

"I'm sure you'll get a chance to avenge us another time, Captain." Finral offered.

"I was just about to break my limits and awaken to a new power." Yami ignored Finral and revealed the real reason why he was frustrated with Musashi running off.

Finral sighed. "Never change, Captain Yami." He muttered to himself.

 _Still, where could that guy have possibly run off to?_ Finral wondered. _He was calling out a name...maybe his superior?_

 _Well, regardless, I hope Asta and the others are alright._ Finral remembered what was important. _Once we know everyone here is out of danger, we need to go back there and get the others back under Vanessa's fate-altering magic._

Meanwhile, back at the big fight, Kinpatsu watched as Yakuma slowly rose to his feet after that devastating blow. "You're still standing after all of that?" Kinpatsu raised an eyebrow. "Impressive, I guess the Cult managed to retain a little bit of strength after your last conquest all those years ago."

Yakuma chuckled, clutching an open wound that had burn marks all over it. "Well, can't deny that I'm still nowhere near those who had the strength and ambition to directly challenge Menou. That goes for all of us. Even the Archbishop is nowhere near that level of strength." He acknowledged. "But hey, the dream is to eventually reach that level."

"It will have to stay a dream." Kinpatsu warned. "You're not going to leave this kingdom alive, Cardinal."

Yakuma laughed through the pain he was in. "Ooh, scary." He mocked. "Then again, I guess after delivering a hit like that, you've earned the right to get a little cocky."

"And for having such a simple Art as getting really, really hot, it's pretty effective. It's a shame you're crippled. If you were entirely put together, you'd win this fight for sure. I'd say it's good for me that you are, but a part of me really wants to see the full-strength of a man who'd clearly be higher on the food chain than me if he was at full strength."

Kinpatsu scowled. "Anyway, much like you, I have no interest in yielding just yet." Yakuma vowed. "Even men who exist simply to destroy everything around them have their pride, you know."

"Then you will die with your pride." Kinpatsu promised.

Suddenly, three new presences made themselves known to Kinpatsu and everyone else's senses. "Sir Kinpatsu!" Sojiro yelled out a warning as a massive shadow cast itself over Kinpatsu.

Kinpatsu looked up and gasped at the sight of a giant storm cloud above him. "Storm Cloud!" Mirai yelled, blasting Kinpatsu with an extremely powerful bolt of lightning.

Kinpatsu quickly raised Taiyomaru and blocked the brunt of the attack. However, he was forced to one knee by the force of the blow. "You're going to pay for trying to attack the Cardinal!" Mirai hissed. All playfulness and lethargy were gone from her voice and mannerisms. There was nothing but hatred and the promise of a painful death.

Enshiro then appeared to Kinpatsu's right. "Watch out!" Sojiro and Shogo did not hesitate to try and rush to Kinpatsu's side, only to be suddenly impeded by more storm clouds, created by Mirai.

"Erupting Meteor Fist!" Enshiro yelled, firing off molten lava from his fist.

Kinpatsu yelled in pain as the lava struck him in the side. Enshiro had the same look of hatred in his eyes that Mirai did. "You're dead." He promised. "I'll melt you to the point where even your bones won't be left."

Yakuma scowled. "Seriously, you two? Now? I was handling myself fine."

"If you desire to punish us, then do so later, Cardinal." Musashi then appeared, walking past Yakuma. "Because right now, we simply want to make this bastard suffer."

"How dare you attack our Cardinal?" Musashi readied both his katana. "I will soak these ruins with your blood!"

"Sakura-ryu: Cross Execution!" Musashi suddenly vanished and reappeared behind Kinpatsu. Kinpatsu gasped as blood spurted from wounds that formed an 'x.'

Musashi scowled, looking at his blades. "I had to pour my Reiki into the blades, or they would've melted from that heat surrounding your body. You are, without a doubt, far too dangerous to be left alive."

"Of course, your torment won't end quickly." Enshiro promised. "You hurt our boss after all. You must die for that."

"No mercy for you." Mirai added. "Your final moments will be agonizing."

"But it appears," Musashi continued, turning to see that Sojiro, Shogo, Izuku, Ruby and even Klaus Lunettes, had joined the fight, "that you lot disagree."

"After all of his efforts to help us, we won't simply stand aside and let him die." Sojiro promised. "And besides, I have a lot of questions to ask our new ally. It would not do if he died now. Do you hear me, Sir Kinpatsu? We're all going to survive this, and afterwards we will have much to discuss."

"No matter how strong you are," Izuku had already activated Full Cowling, "I'm sick of watching people die. I will be...a hero that saves people!"

"I'm terrified of you, of all of you!" Ruby admitted. "But...I'm more scared of what you'll do if I don't fight. I cannot let myself be a bystander when I know I can make a difference if I try."

Izuku and Ruby were indeed terrified. In fact, they were shaking. However, both individuals remembered something important. They both wanted to be heroes, and they could not let what was happening to their worlds happen to this world as well. No matter how tiny a difference they would make through their efforts...they both knew they had to try.

Yakuma chuckled as he walked over to his bishops, clutching his open wound. "So damn gutsy. I love it. You all are the best! What a blessing it is that our crusade would grant us such fantastic, gutsy foes."

"Alright then! One final great battle! Win or lose, this will determine the fate of Clover Kingdom!" Yakuma declared. "The question now is, who will fate smile on?"

Before either side could initiate the final battle, however, a new voice spoke up. "Fate? Sorry, I'm not really one for fate. After all, I've found with enough effort, one can control their destiny."

Yakuma's eyes widened. "What? Who are-"

"Time Binding Magic: Chronostasis!" Suddenly, Yakuma and his Bishops were all caught in light blue orbs.

Yakuma gasped. _What is this?_ He wondered. _Why is everything so slow? And why does the world around me seem frozen?_

"That...that magic!" Klaus exclaimed in disbelief.

"It can't be…" Noelle muttered, though she did not let up on her healing of Asta and the captains.

At that moment, Yami, Finral and Vanessa returned through Finral's Spatial Magic. Yami gasped, immediately seeing the one who had restrained all four major threats to the kingdom's safety in one fell swoop.

"No way…" He muttered.

A 42 year old man had saved everyone, saved the kingdom. Not 13 years old; 42 years old. The Wizard King, Julius Novachrono smiled with relief. "It looks like my experiments were a success." He noted.

"That's good...I'm so glad that I still have a chance to fight for this kingdom...as the Wizard King."

 **A.N: Ah, but Nicholas, wasn't it established that the Time Seals wouldn't work on Julius? Don't worry, I'll explain everything.**

 **But sheesh, how about Yakuma, am I right? Dude's a freaking juggernaut. Basically he's evil Sairaorg Bael. More accurately he's every Shonen Hero Trope for a villain.**

 **I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. And if you enjoyed this, and want to try some original work instead, check out my first original novel: Age of Heroes: The Hero and the Disciple on Amazon Kindle.**


	20. Chapter 20: Out Of Time

**A.N: I had mentioned this on my latest Wild Hunt post, but I am already loving this posting method, compared to my monthly one. I'm still writing things at my own pace, don't get me wrong. I'm just not sitting on things when they're finished. So, everyone enjoy this little surprise from yours truly. Well, actually I guess it's not really a surprise, considering I literally stated my intention on this a couple days ago. But, you get the idea.**

 **Chapter 19: Out of Time**

Battles everywhere seemed to screech to a halt as Julius Novachrono's restored Mana flared across Clover Kingdom. Rill Boismortier, who was single handedly pushing back several Acolytes with his Picto Magic, could only gape. "Lord Julius...that definitely isn't the Mana of a kid." He noted, briefly turning into Captain Obvious.

Elsewhere, Dorothy Unsworth was fully awake and in shock at this sudden turn of events while Acolytes desperately tried to survive the power of her Dream Magic. "What in the world just happened to Lord Julius?"

Charlotte Roselei desperately tried to dress Sol Marron's wounds with regular first aid while trying to find someone who knew healing magic. "Something has happened," she realized, "I'll have to worry about Gueldre and Revchi running off later…"

Kaiser Granvorka stroked his mustache thoughtfully. "It appears our Wizard King had one last trick up his sleeve." He mused as Sekke and Xerx helped up Jack the Ripper.

At the very center of it all, Julius Novachrono, now restored to normal, stared impassively at the bound cultists who had been the biggest threats to his kingdom's safety. Yami Sukehiro finally got over his shock and spoke up. "Lord Julius!" He exclaimed. "That really is you, right? This ain't no goofy-ass illusion? Because that would be a jerk move!"

Julius smiled. "It is, Yami." He assured the man. "It's no illusion."

Yami then turned to Sojiro, who was just as shocked. "Hey, Old Man!" He yelled. "I thought you said that Time Seal couldn't help Lord Julius!"

"I did, and it shouldn't have." Sojiro responded before addressing Julius. "Julius, how in the world did you manage this? It should've been impossible."

"Long story, tell you all about it later." Julius promised before turning his attention back to Yakuma and his Bishops. "Now, what should I do with these four?"

"Julius, can you use your Time Magic to age them rapidly?" Sojiro inquired.

"Indeed, my magic is designed to steal the time of others, after all." Julius explained.

"Good, I need you to do that." Sojiro nodded. "Do it until they die."

"Wait, you're just going to kill them?" Ruby Rose was surprised to hear this.

"This is for the best, Ruby." Sojiro promised. "Even if we spared them, we wouldn't get anything through interrogation, they would end their own lives before they gave up anything about their organization's secrets."

Izuku Midoriya shuddered at this, remembering the fate of the Acolyte he had fought back in his world. "Ruby, he's right." He said softly. "I don't want to admit it, but he's right."

"Kill them, huh?" Julius frowned slightly. "Well, I would've preferred learning more about them, their evil plans and their interesting powers...but if interrogating them is a useless gesture, then I'll just age them into nothingness."

"They are currently bound in Chronostasis." Julius noted. "But I'll switch my spell to Girasmos, and that will age them until they are dust."

 _Hopefully this won't take too long._ Julius added inwardly. _Time is no friend of mine here._

"Okay then, Mana Zone-" Julius began.

A black portal suddenly opened up, much to everyone else's surprise. Sojiro and Shogo both gasped, sensing a very dangerous amount of Reiki. "Stay behind us!" Sojiro and Shogo shouted to Ruby and Izuku.

Suddenly, a woman in a pitch black dress with hair just as dark and crimson red eyes stepped out of the portal. Julius was immediately put on guard too, knowing that this woman was undoubtedly dangerous. The woman then took one look at the bound Cardinal and Bishops and held her hand out.

"Dispel," she said simply.

There was a brief flash of silver light, and then in an instant, Julius' magic vanished around the four high-ranking cultists. All four fell to their knees as their bodies and minds readjusted to being able to experience time normally. Yakuma was the first to come around, noticing the woman's presence. He gasped.

"Matriarch?" He was surprised to see her here.

"You all must survive." The Matriarch told them. "You still have roles to play. There is still much for you to accomplish in the name of our god."

The Matriarch then gestured for the four to follow her into the portal. Julius immediately trained his magic on her. "Time Magic!" He yelled as a light blue orb appeared in his hand. "Chrono Thanatou!"

The orb fired from Julius's hand towards the Matriarch. _I'll accelerate the attack's flow of time with Mana Zone,_ Julius added, _that attack is the very destruction of one's time. Once it strikes her, no matter what her power is, she will be killed, erased from existence._

Indeed, Julius' Chrono Thanatou seemed to increase in speed as it neared the Matriarch. Then, without even looking, the Matriarch spoke. "Dispel." She said.

And at that moment, the Chrono Thanatou attack vanished from existence, much to the shock of Julius. "It doesn't matter how dangerous your Time Magic actually is, Wizard King." The Matriarch explained. "All power is erased by my Art. The ultimate anti-power ability."

The Matriarch then entered the portal. Yakuma gave them all a grin, even though he was retreating. "We'll settle this another time." He promised, entering with his Bishops, who all simply glared at them before leaving.

And with that, the dark portal closed. The battle was now over. Julius heaved a sigh of relief before laughing in embarrassment. "Oh dear," he said, "guess I'm already a little rusty. Or maybe I'm just not used to fighting like this yet."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean you crazy bastard?" Yami demanded. "You were fighting like you were never even out of action!"

Julius ignored Yami and teleported to all the injured. Noelle Silva's new healing spell had taken care of their immediate injuries, but they were still badly hurt from their fights with Yakuma. Julius gave Noelle an encouraging smile. "That was a new spell, wasn't it?" He said to the shocked girl. "You're amazing, Noelle. Acier would be proud of how you've grown."

Noelle forgot her exhaustion and wept at the mention of her deceased mother, whom she never met. To know she would be proud of her was simply overwhelming for her. "Thank you, Wizard King." She muttered.

Julius chuckled. "Now then, I think I'll take it from here." He said, holding out his coverless grimoire, now filled with hundreds of pages. "Time Healing Magic: Antistrofi!"

And with that, time seemed to reverse for all the injured. Their wounds seemed to close up, as though they had never been there in the first place. "Hmm, actually, I think I will go ahead and extend this magic to the kingdom in its entirety." Julius decided, realizing that would be a better use of the time he had.

"Mana Zone: Antistrofi: Elysium!"

And with that, time seemed to reverse all over the kingdom as the injured found their wounds vanish. Charlotte breathed a sigh of relief as tears fell from her eyes, seeing that Sol was going to be just fine. "Oh thank goodness." She muttered.

Sojiro watched in shock as Julius single handedly saved countless people from death. He smiled slightly. "I see," he muttered, "so this is the true power of the Wizard King."

"A true hero is what he is." Shogo said admiringly while Izuku and Ruby nodded in agreement, left in awe of Julius' power.

Sojiro's face then fell. "It makes me worry a lot more about the strength of that Matriarch woman, since she was able to erase his Time Magic so easily." He admitted.

"Maybe so, Grandmaster," Sojiro turned to Ruby, who was smiling reassuringly at him, "but the important thing is that we're all alive. Maybe the bad guys got away today, but we're alive and that's what matters most."

Sojiro smiled back and patted Ruby on the head. "You're right, little one." He said softly.

Izuku and Ruby then heard the sound of someone groaning. They turned to see that Asta was starting to come around. "Asta!" They yelled in unison, running towards him.

Asta groaned as his eyes opened. "What the…" He muttered before being tackled in an embrace from Izuku and Ruby.

"Oh thank goodness, we were so worried!" Ruby exclaimed.

"Seriously, man, don't scare us like that!" Izuku added.

"Don't scare you...what are you guys…" Asta trailed off as the memories came back. He immediately became frantic at one particular memory. "Yuno! Where's Yuno?!"

"He's fine, Asta." Asta turned to see Mimosa Vermillion smiling with relief as Yuno slowly came to as well.

Asta's eyes became misty. "Thank God," he whispered softly, "I'm so glad...he's okay…"

Sojiro and Shogo both smiled with relief, they then turned to Kinpatsu, who was surveying the lack of wounds on his chest. "Sir Kinpatsu," Sojiro spoke up, "I want to thank you for coming to our aid. Had you not been here, we would have not had the time we needed for Julius to show up when he did. We're all alive thanks to your sudden interference."

Kinpatsu nodded. "Think nothing of it." He replied.

Kinpatsu then rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "Although...you probably have a ton of questions for me, seeing as though I'm from Rakuen." He noted.

"I have no intention of judging you if that's what you're getting at." Sojiro promised. "You helped us and saved a lot of good people. As far as I'm concerned, that makes you our ally. We would love to have someone of your caliber on our side."

Kinpatsu sighed. "Well, these bastards went and disturbed my retirement, and I certainly can't ignore it when a bunch of genocidal maniacs are running around." He acknowledged. "Let me get my affairs in order back at my cottage and I'll return to you with my answer."

"Done," Sojiro nodded.

With that, Kinpatsu vanished from their sight. "What a mysterious man." Shogo folded his arms, frowning slightly.

"He's mysterious, but he's helpful." Sojiro defended.

"I'm surprised Lord Julius' healing didn't restore his arm though." Shogo noted.

"He probably lost it a couple centuries ago." Sojiro noted. "If I had to guess, Julius's Time Magic is not limitless. He probably lost it too far back for him to actually restore it."

"Grandmaster, Shogo!" Sojiro and Shogo both smiled with relief, turning to see Noriko and Secre running towards them, flanked by a very silent and solemn looking Damnatio Kira.

"Ah, Noriko, Secre, thank the gods you're both safe." Sojiro then gasped, noticing Damnatio's presence. "Ah, and hello to you as well, Damnatio."

Damnatio simply hummed in acknowledgement. Noriko chuckled, surprisingly chipper in the presence of a man she honestly hated. "Oh, don't mind him, he's just a little grumpy that I healed his injuries."

"DAMNATIO!" The group turned to see Augustus Kira Clover stumbling towards them with a look of fright on his face.

"Whoa, did he seriously follow us?" Noriko was shocked. "He has so little presence I didn't even notice the guy."

"Damnatio!" Augustus furiously yelled. "How could you abandon your king like that?"

Damnatio remained silent. "Abandoned?" Noriko frowned, folding her arms now. "Wasn't he the one hiding and bargaining with that Caligula guy?"

Augustus then noticed all of the people he did not personally like converged into one area. He narrowed his eyes. "Damnatio, execute all these traitors right now!" He demanded. "Asta, Noelle and Secre of the Black Bulls, Yuno of the Roars of the Golden Dawn, these blasted foreigners. Execute them now!"

Damnatio sighed and spoke up. "For what crimes Your Majesty?" He asked curiously.

"I'm the king, I don't need a reason!" Augustus reminded him. "Hell, for all we know, their presence brought the enemy to our kingdom! They could even be colluding with the enemy! And of course they are, because I say they are!"

Damnatio looked at Augustus, then at Sojiro's group. He heaved one more sigh and responded. "I'm sorry Your Majesty, but I no longer hold the power to condemn."

Augustus' mouth dropped open in shock. "No longer have...you are Damnatio Kira, Chairman of the Magic Parliament!" Augustus reminded him. "And you are of the Kira Family, my noble family! Of course you hold the power! It is within your right for it is within your blood!"

"The Magic Parliament is gone, Your Majesty." Damnatio solemnly reminded his king. "You witnessed it yourself. The only people with power left in this kingdom are the Magic Knights...and Lord Julius."

Augustus stammered at this, turning to see Julius calmly approaching them. "No way! I won't allow it!" He screamed. "I'm the king, damn it! If I'm not, then who is?"

"Your Majesty, I have always passed judgement in a manner that I believe benefits our kingdom as a whole." Damnatio claimed. "And I have always believed that the welfare and strength of our ruling class has always been what benefits this kingdom. So, my judgement has often been in their favor."

"That's what it means to be noble." Augustus reminded Damnatio.

Damnatio sighed. "Even if that is true...even if I still believe that, I'm afraid the scales can no longer tip in your favor, Your Majesty."

"What do you mean?"

"You were willing to sell out our entire kingdom to a dangerous assassin if it meant saving your own life." Damnatio reminded Augustus. "You were willing to give him anything if it meant your survival. No matter how hard I try, I cannot tip the scales in your favor. Because at this point...I now see that what benefits you, does not benefit the kingdom as a whole."

"I am the kingdom!" Augustus claimed.

Damnatio shook his head. "Not anymore, the Parliament is gone, you don't have the magic to challenge Lord Julius, and now even I have abandoned you, because I now see that condemning you benefits the kingdom more than condemning this lot. To think the day would come, when the scales would tip against the king of this nation...what a tragedy."

Augustus stammered in disbelief. "Oh, don't worry Your Majesty." Julius said chipperly, standing right behind Augustus and making the man jump in fear. "We won't put you in jail. If anything, consider yourself under house arrest. A figurehead from now on."

"Wh-what?" Augustus could not believe what he was hearing. House arrest? A figurehead? In his own country?

"Hey now, it's not really much of a change." Julius noted. "After all, you never did too much governing anyway. Things won't change much with you out of the picture now."

Augustus collapsed to his knees in disbelief as Julius walked past him, feeling his entire world collapse. "Thank you for seeing reason, Damnatio." Julius told the man.

"Do not thank me, the only reason I did that was because the scales did not tip in the king's favor." Damnatio claimed. "Make no mistake, Lord Julius, one of these days, I have every intention of condemning all of them to make sure they do not become threats to the kingdom."

"Then I guess I'll just have to make sure you never have the power to do that again."

Damnatio scoffed. "I'll step aside for now, since they are aiding us. However, don't think you can run this country on your own. When you fail, I'll be right here to take power back and to tip the scales of justice back where they should be."

Julius chuckled. "I'll take what I can get." He shrugged. "But it's just as you said, Damnatio. The Magic Parliament is dead. Neither you nor Augustus have any more power to back up your titles."

Damnatio fell silent as Julius walked over to Sojiro and his group. "Julius...we owe you our lives too." Sojiro noted. "I don't know how you pulled it off, but…"

"The thanks lies solely with you, Sojiro." Julius told him. "If you hadn't brought that seal to me, I wouldn't have been able to figure out how I can return to my previous self. I wouldn't have been able to fight for this country once more as its Wizard King."

Julius then laughed sheepishly. "And honestly, in the grand scheme of things, it's nothing to be impressed by. You'll see why in...now."

At that moment, Julius was enveloped in a cloud of smoke, making everyone who was looking at Julius gasp. Then, the smoke cleared, and Julius was still standing there. However, he was thirteen again.

"Yeah…" Julius rubbed the back of his head. "...I didn't really have time to perfect the whole thing."

"EH?!" Everyone face-faulted at what they had all witnessed.

After everyone calmed down from the surprise, the Magic Knight Captains, along with the Otherworlders and Asta were all meeting in the Wizard King's office. "So yeah," Julius said, "the truth is, while I was able to reverse engineer the seal, I was unable to make it permanent."

"It's just like Sojiro said, these seals were designed to rewind people through time, not move them forward due to the latter being more dangerous than the former." Julius explained. "And no matter what I did, I could not find a permanent fix. Every solution I found only put my body and my life at risk. So, I had to engineer the seal to mitigate that danger by putting a time limit on how long I can stay in my previous state, forward in time."

Everyone looked like their brains hurt from this. "In other words," Julius continued, "I can transform to my adult self once a day for fifteen minutes. This is what I look like for the rest of the time. But, thankfully, it seems fifteen minutes is all I need."

"I still have no idea what all this means." Asta admitted.

Izuku was already muttering to himself about the possibilities of Julius's new state. Ruby just stared at both of her friends. One was in deep thought, the other was not thinking at all. She sweat-dropped, realizing she had befriended two total weirdos.

"Well, even though the time limit sucks, I guess it's a relief that you can at least fight with us again, Lord Julius." Yami noted.

"Indeed, fifteen minutes or not, your presence is a boon to our forces." Fuegoleon Vermillion added.

"And thanks to you, we were able to save so many lives." Charlotte noted.

"That was actually a brand new spell I created." Julius admitted. "To be honest, even after I managed to reverse engineer the seal, I was still so desperate to help in any way I can. And innovation can come from desperation. So, my grimoire created a brand new spell that combines the power of my Chrono Anastasis and Antistrofi. I just wish the spell was good enough to give time back to those who had lost it all."

Julius then looked at Fuegoleon. "And it's a shame my healing spells still aren't enough to restore your arm, Fuegoleon."

Fuegoleon shook his head. "Think nothing of it, Wizard King, I can still fight."

"If I may," Sojiro spoke up, "what happens now?"

Julius smiled. "Well, my order from back then still stands. Asta and Secre are in your custody now."

"And the Black Bulls are coming too." Yami grinned. "We made you a promise, and we intend to keep it."

"Yami," Nozel Silva frowned, "you shouldn't take your entire squad with you like that. It's extremely reckless."

"Reckless, but perhaps necessary." Julius spoke up. "Our friends here need all the help they can get. Meanwhile, we need to work to better ourselves, because it's clear these cultists and their allies present a clear and present danger to our kingdom...no, the entire world's welfare."

Sojiro folded his arms. "When you speak of their allies, you are referring to that Caligula, yes?"

"Who was that guy, exactly?" Izuku asked. "He was incredibly powerful."

Julius's face fell. "I suppose you all have the right to know. Of course I won't just be discussing Caligula and his forces. But also, other organizations whom I believe may have allied with the Cult of the End."

"First, the one you've all met, Caligula Kira." Julius reminded them. "He is the exiled leader of the Nine Magic Judges...the dirty little secret of the Magic Parliament. Nine extremely powerful mages who are true prodigies in killing."

"Killing?!" Izuku and Ruby let out eeps at that.

"Once upon a time, they were personal assassins for the Magic Parliament." Julius sighed. "Anyone who ran afoul of a member of parliament...was killed. On paper, they were an extra police force, but in reality they were just damn criminals."

"When I became Wizard King, the first thing I wanted to do was have them removed from power. I refused to allow the corrupt to have power over life and death like that." Julius explained. "Unfortunately, doing so caused a tremendous scandal that almost got me removed from my position."

"Thankfully, the Judges were their own worst enemies." Julius revealed. "My investigation discovered they had even killed people without orders from the parliament. At that point, even Damnatio was forced to side with me. And so, I was able to exile the Magic Judges."

"Needless to say, I don't think they ever got over it."

"Yeah, no duh." Jack folded his arms.

"Caligula, in particular, is extremely dangerous." Julius revealed. "He was named the Captain of the Magic Judges at a young age. His Spatial Magic is still one of the most dangerous things I've ever seen in my life, especially when combined with that sword of his. He can basically slash and then teleport the slash itself with Mana Zone."

"So that's how he did it!" Asta gasped. "Whoa, that is insane!"

Julius sighed. "A shame, if Caligula wasn't so mentally imbalanced, he'd have been an incredible asset to the kingdom. He's a ruthlessly competent leader and mage, but a monstrous sociopath with no regard for anyone else's life."

Julius then changed the subject. "Then there is another group of rogue mages that I fear may have allied with the cult. The Heartbreakers."

"Heartbreakers?" Mereoleona Vermillion frowned. "The hell kind of name is that?"

"It's a reference to the fact that the leader is an exiled mage from the Heart Kingdom. Her name is Titania Willard. Perhaps you've all heard of her?"

William Vangeance's eyes widened. "Her? Wasn't she a Spirit Guardian once?"

"She was," Julius nodded sadly, "she was also an old friend of mine. We used to study magic together, we always called it a way to bridge the gap between our two kingdoms. However, I wanted to learn about magic to better understand people. Titania wanted to push magic to its utmost limit and beyond."

"Unfortunately, her obsession led to the Heart Kingdom cancelling her research due to safety concerns. And when Titania protested and tried to revive her research in secret...she was exiled. And much like Caligula and the Judges, I don't think she ever got over it."

"Is she really that strong though, being a Spirit Guardian?" Rill inquired.

"I've fought against a Spirit Guardian, and frankly, it's a good thing the Heart Kingdom is not our enemy." Julius smiled. "Titania is no exception. Her magic is unique...but it's unbelievably powerful. To be honest, as you all are right now...not a single one of you could fight her and live."

"Is her magic really that strong? What kind of magic is it?" Asta asked.

Julius sighed. "One you should be familiar with by now. She exclusively uses Spirit Magic."

"Spirit Magic?" Asta was shocked by this. "Wait, like Yuno and Captain Fuegoleon?"

Julius nodded. "Spirit Magic is actually a regular type of magic on its own, but it's very rare because of how odd it is. In order to add pages to your Grimoire, you need to travel the world, making contracts with Spirits."

"Let me guess, she did exactly that?" Mereoleona deadpanned.

Julius nodded. "It was part of her research. Titania was often granted leave from the Heart Kingdom to travel around and add to her grimoire, making contract after contract with various spirits. She has so many different kinds of magic now from her contracts, she earned the nickname: Spirit Queen."

Julius sighed. "And if I had to guess, I'd say she's only been making more contracts since her exile from the Heart Kingdom. Damn, I shouldn't have allowed sentimentality to get in the way at her tribunal. I should've advocated for her imprisonment. I knew she would never give up on her research...and I just let her roam free all these years."

"Don't talk like that Wizard King," Asta told him, "she was your friend, right? You shouldn't feel bad for getting sentimental over one of your friends."

Julius smiled sadly before moving onto the next one. "The next thing we have to deal with is the reemergence of the Grand Magic Zone known as Heaven."

"Heaven?" Noriko frowned. "Like the afterlife?"

Julius shook his head. "Grand Magic Zones are places with immensely dense and powerful Mana, to a very dangerous level. And Heaven was the most dangerous of them all. It was named such by its arrogant populace from their god complex."

"This was the same year I brought both Yami and William into Grey Deer." Julius revealed. "This was the incident that had me originally considered as the successor to the previous Wizard King."

"Heaven's forces, considering themselves an independent nation worthy of ruling the entire world, launched an attack on the 'earth' as they put it." Julius smiled. "Little did they know, I was already trying to make my way onto their little fortress to train in the Grand Magic Zone that was Heaven. Imagine my surprise when I stumbled upon an invasion that was trying to get off the ground."

"Only you, Lord Julius." Yami face-palmed.

"I would've contacted the rest of my squad, or even the entire Clover Kingdom for help, but I knew that if this became a full-scale war, any survivors would hate the victor and one day seek revenge. If that were to be the case, I knew I had to take on all that hate myself."

Julius sighed. "So, I launched a one-man war on the entire fortress. Within days, I killed every mage allied with Heaven."

"Or at least, I thought I did. Heaven was spotted flying in the sky to the north." Julius revealed. "And it only flies while being powered by someone's Mana. Someone has brought that fortress back. I don't know who's running the show now, but it can't be good."

"So we've got vengeful assassins, a vengeful mad scientist, and vengeful religious zealots, all of whom are probably super pissed at you." Yami bluntly noted.

"Yeah, I'm not much of a Wizard King, huh?" Julius said bitterly. "But, to be fair, the last enemy we might be facing is not my fault."

"And who's this last enemy?" Sojiro asked.

Julius glanced at Asta for a brief moment. _Time to admit to the truth._ He sadly noted to himself.

"The last enemy...comes from the Diamond Kingdom." Julius revealed.

Asta's eyes widened at this. "No way!" He immediately denied. "That's impossible! Mars wouldn't...there's no way the Diamond Kingdom would be our enemies!"'

Julius's face fell for a moment before regaining his composure. "Steady yourself for what I am about to tell you, Asta." Julius ordered in a firm tone of voice.

Asta's eyes widened. He had never heard the Wizard King speak to him in such a tone. Julius sighed. "Just recently, there was a coup within the Diamond Kingdom. General Mars and the people who supported him tried to fight against it, but as far as we know, they were all defeated. Their fates are currently unknown."

Asta could not believe what he was hearing. "Mars tried to fight against the coup? But that doesn't make any sense! He wanted to take over the Diamond Kingdom himself!"

Julius shook his head. "Circumstances changed, Asta. It would seem that General Mars had no intention of letting the people who perpetrated this coup take over either. Unfortunately, he failed."

Immediately, Asta turned around and made for the exit. "Where are you going?" Julius demanded calmly.

"To save Mars, of course!" Asta yelled. "We promised each other we would always come to other's aid! I'm not breaking that promise!"

"Asta, you do that and you'll be taking on an entire kingdom and most likely the cult as well. You do that, and you will only get yourself killed." Julius reminded him.

Asta stopped at this. Julius sighed. "I'm sorry for not telling you this, I know that General Mars is your friend. But this reaction of yours is exactly why I couldn't tell you. Because I knew you'd try to leave. Asta, you need to stay calm so that we can come up with a proper plan of attack. Even you can't fight an entire kingdom's army alone."

Asta growled in frustration at this. "Somewhere in the Diamond Kingdom, Mars is hurt and captive...wondering if anyone's going to come and help him!" He pointed out, now sounding heartbroken. "He's my friend!"

"I know he is, and if he is alive you will have the chance to save him." Julius promised. "General Mars is a powerful asset for the Diamond Kingdom. I don't think they would just kill him. They will probably try to break him, and remold him into a loyal soldier."

"And I'm supposed to just sit back and let that happen?" Asta demanded.

"You're supposed to keep getting stronger and have faith that your dear friend won't break against all that torture." Julius responded.

Julius heaved a sigh. "We're getting off topic though. Nothing has been confirmed yet. We don't even know for certain if the Diamond Kingdom really has allied with the cultists. I can't condone a course of action that will lead us to war with two different armies. One is bad enough."

Sojiro folded his arms. "You said this was recent. As in the day we met?"

Julius sighed. "Yes, I apologize for hiding this information. Like I said, we were unable to confirm if the rebels had colluded with the cult. And with Asta in your care, revealing this information to you meant revealing it to him. And you can see now why I was hesitant about that."

Sojiro sighed. "Julius, alliances are built on trust." He reminded him.

"And I truly am sorry for breaking that trust. I weighed the pros and the cons, and I decided that this was the best decision. I swear to you though, I had only thought of what I felt was our best interests at the time."

Ruby looked at Julius, seeing Ozpin in the man for a brief moment. _I see, so this is what it's really like to be in charge of so many people's lives...to have so much responsibility heaped onto your shoulders. I think...I'm now beginning to truly understand Professor Ozpin's reasoning more...even if I still don't fully agree with it._

Sojiro looked at Julius and nodded in understanding. "I suppose you are right about one thing. If you were unable to confirm the cult's involvement, then that is no reason to fight two different wars, especially as your country is now." He acknowledged. "I just wish we could've all been better prepared. It's so easy to say that knowledge could've left us better prepared in hindsight. But in reality, we still would've been impeded and distracted by Damnatio's actions, and then caught off guard by Caligula."

"Julius, I forgive you for this, because I understand you meant well." Sojiro promised. "But please, remember that you can tell me anything in the future. I'm trying to think of what's best for your kingdom as well, after all. But not just your kingdom, but your entire world's wellbeing."

Julius nodded in understanding. "We're still seriously off track though." Yami pointed out. "Who are these goons that took over the Diamond Kingdom."

"Ah, that's right, you and William were not here for that meeting." Julius noted. "Well-and I'm still trying to comprehend this myself-the perpetrator was apparently Crown Prince Andros Painite. Now Andros Painite Diamond V."

"That's impossible!" Vangeance immediately denied. "Prince Andros died of illness!"

Julius chuckled humorlessly. "Yes, we know, that was pointed out during the last meeting."

Julius sighed. "But according to our reports, it was Andros's name that the crowds cheered." He noted.

"I don't get it." Asta spoke up, having finally calmed down about Mars. "What's so special about this Prince Andros guy?"

Julius nodded. "Well, as I've said, he was the crown prince. That meant he was first in line to inherit the throne."

"From birth, Prince Andros was a prodigy, a true genius who was able to excel in everything, so the stories go. He filled the palace halls with beautiful music. His academic studies were top notch. His Mana was high, even by a royal's standards, and his skill with magic was just as fantastic. I was always sad I never got a chance to see it."

"In other words, he was perfection, in every sense of the word." Julius revealed. "He was the boy who was supposed to lead the Diamond Kingdom out of its woeful times and into an era of prosperity and sanity."

"And as always, something went wrong, right?" Mereoleona spoke up, folding her arms. "Something always does go wrong in these stories."

Julius nodded. "Andros Painite supposedly died seven years ago. Tragically, it was on his eighteenth birthday. The day everything was supposed to come together for him. The day he'd be a man. The day he could make a claim to the throne if he wished. Instead, he died of illness."

"And this is where the story gets suspicious." Julius revealed. "Andros Painite was the perfect picture of health. For him to take ill and die so suddenly. It always was suspicious to me. I was never able to investigate the matter properly because it was well out of my jurisdiction and snooping about that deeply would only worsen relations between the two kingdoms."

"That definitely doesn't make any sense." Ruby spoke up. "How does a guy who's supposed to be that healthy and strong just get sick and die without warning?"'

Julius nodded in agreement. "And now, this supposed dead man is back and has now taken his place on the throne."

"And I will say that things only get disturbing from here. Things have been pretty secretive inside the palace for the most part. But outside...it's not good." Julius admitted. "I had our spies keep investigating to gather more information. There have been mass-executions outside the palace."

"Seriously?" Izuku was stunned to hear this.

"Many of the reports say they are former members of the court. And not just members of the court, but their families as well." Julius sighed. "It's a full, thorough purge of the previous regime."

"That's awful!" Ruby exclaimed.

Julius nodded. "Andros Painite...was supposedly kind and thoughtful back in the day. I still don't know what's going on over there, but if that really is him sitting on the throne now...then something happened to change him. Something turned him into a ruthless king."

"But we still don't know if he's allied with the cult, right?" Charlotte spoke up.

"That's right," Julius nodded, "I'm having my spies keep their eyes peeled for people dressed in the same attire as the cultists we met today, but I've gotten nothing so far."

"Allied with the cult or not...I can't help but wonder what made him change like that." Izuku spoke up. "What turns a paragon into...well, a devil."

"Anything could have happened." Julius responded. "But, until we know if he has actually allied with the cult, I cannot take any action against the Diamond Kingdom."

Asta's fists clenched at this. Fuegoleon spoke up. "I know this isn't what you want to hear, Asta, but Lord Julius is right." He told the young Magic Knight. "Asta, we barely survived the cult's attack alone, and that was a small fighting force. And they've allied with people like the Magic Judges, Heaven, The Heartbreakers, and seem to have taken Patolli under their control. We simply do not have the manpower to fight the Diamond Kingdom as well."

"But make no mistake, Asta." Fuegoleon continued. "If they have allied with the cult, we will take the fight to them one day. You will save General Mars then."

"I know...it's just so damn frustrating." Asta complained.

"Asta, if they can take Patolli under their control, then that means they could very well try the same on Mars." Julius pointed out. "I know that's not exactly ideal either, but at least that means they won't just kill him. Like Fuegoleon said, you will get your chance to save Mars. You just need to be calm and patient and focus on the bigger picture."

Asta took a deep breath. "You're right," he finally conceded, "I don't like it, but you're right."

"Is that it then, Julius? Those four organizations we need to be prepared for?" Sojiro asked.

Julius nodded. "All four are dangerous on their own, and allied with those cultists, after the day we've had, I'm not confident in our chances of survival."

"Way to rally the troops." Yami muttered sarcastically.

"Thankfully," Julius smiled, "I have a contingency to buy us the time we need to train and get strong enough to do it."

"Eh? What kind of contingency?" Charlotte asked.

"Well, considering when I sent Marx on this little errand, we should be seeing it right...now."

Julius led everyone to the nearest window. When they all gazed outside, they gasped when they saw the sky turn purple. No, it was not that the sky turned purple. A transparent, purple veil was surrounding them. Little did they know, this veil was covering Clover Kingdom in its entirety, like a dome.

"Lord Julius, what is the meaning of this?" Fuegoleon demanded.

"My contingency plan, Fuegoleon." Julius smiled. "You see, after the 1st Wizard King's sacrifice, the 2nd Wizard King was a rather paranoid individual. He feared another disaster like the one in the 1st's legend."

"So, he had his best mages construct a magic device that could create a barrier that could protect the entire kingdom." Julius revealed. "Anyone who harbors hostile intent towards this kingdom will lose their will to fight upon entry. And any magic attacks from the outside will not breach it."

"Why the hell didn't you bust this out when we were dealing with the Eye of the Midnight Sun you idiot!" Yami yelled indignantly.

Julius sighed. "Well for starters, the barrier can only be used once. A flaw in the design that the 2nd Wizard King could not solve, no matter how hard he tried. And to be honest, I was always concerned there'd be a greater enemy than the Eye of the Midnight Sun. Truth be told, I had thought we'd have to use it if the Spade Kingdom suddenly became more aggressive."

"What, you thought they'd try something?" Charlotte was surprised to hear this.

Julius nodded. "Like I said, it could only be used once. Sure, if we only had a couple skirmishes here and there, it'd be fine. However, we're not even ready for a full-scale war with the Spade Kingdom."

Julius then heaved a sigh. "My only regret is that Marx couldn't get to its location before the attack. I honestly thought we would have more time. The 2nd Wizard King had to place it in one of the Grand Magic Zones for it to work properly."

"The important thing is that the barrier is up now." Sojiro noted. "This way, you all can prepare for war safely."

"Indeed," Julius nodded. "And I'd like to reiterate once more: this barrier can only be used once. So I want all of you to put yourselves through the training of your lives. We need to make this count. Our very survival is at stake here. And not just our survival, the entire world's survival. In fact, the survival of all worlds seems to be at stake."

"Asta," Julius smiled at the young Magic Knight, "I expect you to give your best as well, since you're training with a Grandmaster. You still want to be the Wizard King, right?"

Asta nodded. "What I told you back then hasn't changed. Being the Wizard King means getting the most results." Julius reminded him. "This is crunch time, Asta. This is where getting results matter the most. Because now, it's either get results or die."

"So tell me, Asta," Julius walked right up to the boy and looked him in the eye, "do you think you can handle stakes like these?"

Asta, forgetting all his stress over the current events, grinned at Julius. "I've been living with adversity all my life, Wizard King." He reminded Julius. "And I will never give up on my dream."

"So I say bring it on. I'll make sure to get the best results single handedly if I have to." Asta declared. "And the best result is...we all come back alive!"

Julius smiled slightly. _I do pray that there is enough of a kingdom left over for you to lead as its Wizard King, Asta._ He noted. _Because I truly do believe that the country you'll create, is the country that the Clover Kingdom must become._

"Sojiro," Julius addressed the old man, "look after him, alright?"

Sojiro smiled and nodded. "Of course."

Later that day, Sojiro and his group, along with the entire Black Bulls squad, found themselves standing outside the outskirts of the capital. "So, why are we all just standing here again?" Magna Swing asked curiously.

"We're just waiting on one final ally." Sojiro replied. "Our gathered energies should be enough of a beacon for him to know that we're here, waiting for him."

"So all this time, another Watcher was in our world?" Finral Roulacese was still trying to comprehend that fact. "Man, I guess you really just never know, huh?"

"As long as no one has any decent sensory abilities, we can actually blend in with the populace quite easily." Sojiro admitted. "If anything, I can imagine that Sir Kinpatsu lived a hermit's life because he quickly caught on that people could sense that his energy is vastly different from theirs."

"Right, that Reiki you guys keep mentioning." Vanessa Enoteca noted.

"Is he strong? I wanna fight him if he is!" Luck Voltia declared.

"Maybe after we get to know the guy first, Luck." Finral tried to calm the battle freak.

Sojiro let out a small gasp, sensing Kinpatsu's Reiki. "Ah, it seems our new friend has arrived." He noted as Kinpatsu suddenly appeared in front of the group. He had Taiyomaru strapped to his back and holding a medium-sized bag with his one remaining hand. It must have been all his essentials.

"Good to see you again, Sir Kinpatsu." Shogo waved his hand happily.

"It's...only been a few hours." Kinpatsu noted, looking around. "Nice to see you're all up and about, in spite of how brutal that fight was. That Wizard King's magic really is something."

"Well, it wasn't just us." Vanessa responded. "Charmy and Noelle's magic evolved as well, and they really pulled through for everyone as well."

Kinpatsu raised an eyebrow at the massive group. "So this is the whole group? I'm surprised you're bringing this many people."

"Well, the Black Bulls seem convinced they owe us a favor." Sojiro smiled. "And who am I to refuse?"

Kinpatsu shrugged. "I mean, you can, this ain't exactly a field trip you know." The former Rakuen soldier sighed. "But, hey, you're the boss of this group, and all things considered, I haven't been around your group long enough to try and make the rules myself."

"Hey, Mister!" Luck spoke up. "You're strong, right? Let's fight!"

"Luck, what did I just say?" Finral face-palmed.

Kinpatsu shrugged. "I mean, yeah, I am pretty strong. Nowhere near what I used to be. Losing an arm and the use of one of my eyes will do that to ya."

"So, anyway," Kinpatsu addressed Sojiro once more, "we're heading to your guys' base, right?"

"Yes, that is correct." Sojiro nodded. "Thankfully, it should mold itself to accommodate the...influx of residents we're about to have."

"Wait!" The group turned to see that Yuno was calling out to them, running towards them. He was flanked by Nozel Silva, of all people.

"Yuno!" Asta called out, waving and happy to see his rival up and about after such brutal injuries.

"Brother?" Noelle was surprised to see her aloof, older brother coming as well.

Yuno stopped in front of Asta. "How are you feeling, man?" Asta asked.

"Better," Yuno heaved a sigh, "though I think I'm going to feel that guy's punches for a month."

"Asta," Yuno got to the reason why he was here, "you're really leaving with these people?"

"Yeah, Grandmaster's got custody of me now thanks to the Wizard King." Asta responded with a smile. "Why don't you come with us? You can get stronger under the Grandmaster's teaching, I'm sure of it."

"We do have room for one more, young man." Sojiro offered with a smile.

Yuno shook his head. "I appreciate the offer, but no. I only came to say goodbye to Asta. I'll be taking a leave of absence from the Roars of the Golden Dawn for a while. I'll be training in Hage Village."

"You're going back home?" Asta was surprised.

"I know this barrier is up...but I'm still worried for Sister Lily and the others." Yuno admitted. "I'd like to look after them."

"Asta, while our goals are the same, we have our own paths to walk. You were fated to meet these people and train with them. That's all there is to it." Yuno then gave his foster brother a small smile. "Besides, training that close to my rival would just give him ideas on how to beat me, I can't have that."

Asta chuckled. "Yeah, you're right." He acknowledged. "I don't know what I was thinking."

Yuno smirked and then turned to Sojiro. "You're the Grandmaster, yes?"

"That is correct, young man." Sojiro nodded.

Yuno then bowed deeply to Sojiro, surprising everyone. "Please...look after Asta. He's loud, annoying and obnoxious...but he's my friend all the same."

"Of course…" Sojiro trailed off when he noticed that Yuno was already running away before Asta could start getting sappy as well. The old man chuckled at the sight. "Seems like I'm fated to run into the odd ones."

"Brother…" Noelle then took this moment to address her older brother.

Nozel shook his head. "No, I won't try to stop you or anything like that. You are a member of the Black Bulls, so this makes sense." He then blushed slightly, looking away. "Just...please be careful. And use this opportunity to grow into twice the mage our mother was."

Noelle smiled. She was finally starting to have a normal family. "Of course." She promised.

Nozel then addressed Asta. "And Asta?" He said to the magic-less Magic Knight.

"Eh? You've got something you want to say to me as well, Captain Silva?" Asta was surprised at this. Usually, Nozel had nothing but disdain for people like him.

"I still think you're foolish to claim that you are going to become the Wizard King." Nozel bluntly claimed. "You and that Yuno. I will be Wizard King."

"However," Nozel sighed, "I...cannot deny that you managed to do something I never could have. It's thanks to you that Noelle is strong enough to defend herself...and I don't have to worry about losing her like we lost our mother."

"Commoner you may be...your presence has meant a lot to Noelle." Nozel admitted. "And for that, I thank you."

"No problem," Asta grinned, "Noelle is my friend after all."

"All of you," Nozel was now addressing the entire group, "please, look after my little sister. See to it that she surpasses Mother."

"Of course, Nozel, you have our word." Sojiro responded.

"Alright," Sojiro then decided it was time to leave, "if everyone's ready, I'm going to open the portal to the Void. The rules are quite simple. Stay on the path and don't fall off, or you won't come back from the Void. We won't be able to save you."

"Something that scary exists between our worlds?!" Grey shrieked at this.

"Too late to go back now." Zora Ideale pointed out, having made a full recovery from his injuries at Musashi's hands.

Sojiro quickly spoke the chant to open the portal to the Void. The golden path laid itself out before them. "Now then," Sojiro said to the group, "let us go."

Meanwhile, in a darker corner of the Void, Cardinal Yakuma groaned in relief as he sank into a bathtub filled with medicinal waters. "Damn," he muttered, "I took more of a beating than I thought. Guess even my adrenaline wears off eventually."

Yakuma chuckled. "Quite a strong bunch of fighters that Grimoire World had there." He complimented. "At least it won't be a boring conquest."

Yakuma's chuckle then turned into a full belly laugh. "I can't wait to go back!" He declared. "I really want to fight them all again. Destruction is only meaningful when they can actually resist your efforts."

Outside the washroom, Musashi silently stood guard so that no one disturbed his master and father figure. His hands were both firmly resting on the hilts of his twin katanas. He was ready to cut down anyone who intended to disturb Yakuma.

"Heya, Musashi." Even fellow Cardinals.

Musashi gripped the hilts instinctively but closed his eyes as well, taking deep breaths to keep himself from cutting down the man currently approaching him.

"Cardinal Shido." Musashi said in an even tone of voice.

Shido, the Cardinal of Death, laughed at Musashi's tone. "Lemme guess, now's not a good time to chat with Yakuma?" he teased.

Musashi raised an eyebrow. Was this really Shido? He was not normally the type to emote. Rather, he was cold, focused and often seemed bored in his duties. Did something happen in the Quirk World he had been assigned to?

Tabling those thoughts for another time, Musashi responded. "I'm afraid so, Cardinal Shido." He nodded. "Cardinal Yakuma is enjoying a good soak to recover from his many battles today."

Shido nodded. "Alright, I suppose it can wait." He said. "I just wanted to compare notes on our mission results, that's all."

Musashi grumbled at this, still rather miffed they had to retreat from the Grimoire World. "There's no reason for you to be frustrated." Shido sagely pointed out. "In the end, things didn't work out for you this time. Just be glad the higher-ups still see value in you all."

"Mmm," Musashi hummed at this, "The Matriarch said as much when she saved us from the Wizard King's attack."

"And she's right, you four are very powerful." Shido reminded him.

"Death comes for everyone eventually. So there's no need to rush things." Shido's face contorted into a twisted grin for a moment before it switched back to normal. "Anyway, since Yakuma's busy, how about I ask you instead."

"Ask me what, Sir?" Musashi inquired.

"What did you make of those otherworlders?" Shido inquired. "And while we're on the subject, what do you make of the Travelers that seem to like getting in our way?"

Musashi fell silent. He knew he could not simply dismiss either group. Cardinal Yakuma would not approve of him doing so. He did think they had no chance of beating them though.

"Personally, Cardinal Shido, I believe they have no chance of defeating us." Musashi admitted. "That being said, we would be foolish to brush them all off. The fact they managed to _survive_ proves that they should be taken seriously."

Shido grinned. "Quite the head on your shoulders." He complimented. "You're right. Honestly, I can't really say for certain whether they have a chance or not. I stomped the guy who was supposed to be the current number one hero. But, then the Symbol of Peace showed up and actually fought me to a standstill."

Musashi looked at Shido in surprise. Well, he should not actually be surprised. After Yakuma had been stopped in his tracks by Julius, he should not so readily believe that the Cardinals are invincible. But, he idolized Yakuma, so he could not believe they could be beaten either. For Musashi, it was quite the conundrum.

"I think for the most part, these worlds are pretty weak. Strong compared to the ones we've purged before, sure, but still rather weak. Especially compared to those four worlds that the Archbishop has outright told us we are not to go near." Shido explained.

"However, there are some people who've managed to set themselves apart from everyone else." Shido added. "Like All Might."

"All Might?"

"The Symbol of Peace I mentioned." Shido explained. "I suppose you'll learn about him if you're ever assigned to that world. And, considering what happened to you four, it seems that Wizard King is something special as well."

Musashi grumbled once more at this. "And then there are those Travelers." Shido frowned. "I can't really say for certain what my opinion of them is. I haven't met any in person. But, even though he has weakened considerably, the Grandmaster of Menou being among them is troubling."

Shido sighed. "That's about as much as I can determine. Every time I reach out to Higeki to try and compare notes, I bring up the Travelers and their immediate allies and he gets angry and cuts the connection. Whatever happened between them pissed him off a ton."

Shido then folded his arms. "Well, regardless, if they plan to keep getting in our way...that means they're heading to _that_ world next." Shido could not help but chuckle. "If their luck doesn't hold up and they run into _him_ , the rest of us won't have to lift a finger."

"The 4 Cardinals of D are equal in strength." Musashi pointed out.

"Raw strength, yes," Shido acknowledged, "but when it comes to how we handle things...personalities tend to become a factor in determining how a battle goes."

"Higeki, for example, is no-nonsense. That's great in crushing the weak in an instant, but I've always been of the opinion that you can't play your best cards too quickly. And as for Yakuma…"

Shido trailed off when he noticed Musashi glaring at him. "Oh calm down, Yakuma can take my opinions on him, so you can as well." Shido rolled his eyes. "Anyway, Yakuma can take a hit...a lot of hits, in fact. But, and he even recognizes this, doing that too much bites you in the ass."

"And what about you, Cardinal Shido? Don't tell me you're going to say that you're perfect." Musashi frowned.

"Oh no," Shido shook his head, "I'm well aware that my...boredom with my duties tends to make me a bit careless. Unfortunately, that was unavoidable. When you're the 'invincible executioner' and everything comes easy, you're eventually going to start coasting and then make a few mistakes. Makes me glad I ran into All Might. He lit a huge fire in me."

"And that brings me to our mutual friend, the Cardinal of Denial." Shido grinned. "Do you know what sets him apart from all of us, Musashi?"

Musashi shook his head. "Sheer determination." Shido revealed. "That man will not stop until he has completed his mission, no matter what it may be. Frankly, I don't even want him as an enemy."

"Combine that with the fact that the guy's got a few screws loose, and he's more than capable of ending things on his own." Shido revealed.

Musashi fell silent at this, contemplating Shido's surprisingly perceptive take on himself and the other Cardinals. Shido then gazed at the door leading to the washroom Yakuma was in. "Sheesh, that meathead still isn't done?" He frowned before sighing. "Bah, I'll just talk to him later."

Shido started walking away. "Is that really all you have to say to me, Cardinal?" Musashi asked.

Shido nodded. "I've got a chapter to read." He replied. "Although, if Yakuma's going to be this busy recovering from his wounds, I suppose that means the Archbishop will want me to test the strength of our new friend."

"New friend?" Musashi raised a confused eyebrow at Shido's words.

"Oho, you haven't heard?" Shido chuckled. "The Patriarch's newest project was a success. We've got a devil on our side now."

"And get this," Shido continued, "apparently, he's the psycho that turned the elves and the humans in that Grimoire World of yours against each other."

Shido laughed. "Oh man, we really do attract quite the characters, don't we."

Musashi frowned, still a bit put off by Shido emoting so much. "Yes," he said in agreement," yes we do."

 _Still...a devil? This is quite the development…_

Back with Sojiro's group, the ever-bothered and neurotic Shuya found himself groaning at how crowded things were getting now. "Grandmaster," he said, "I know we're trying to gather allies...but why do you have to bring so many back with you at once."

Noriko sweat-dropped at Shuya's behavior. "Our headquarters change to accommodate the size of our party. Why does it matter to you?"

"I...don't like crowds." Shuya muttered in embarrassment.

Meanwhile, Yang Xiao Long embraced both Ruby and Izuku with a look of relief on her face. "Glad you're back, Rubes." She said to her little sister. She then addressed Izuku. "Same to you, Green. We were all worrying about ya both."

Izuku, due to the height difference between him and Yang, had gotten a face-full of cleavage from the embrace. And now, he was sputtering incoherently, much to Ruby and Yang's confusion. "He...wasn't like that before." Ruby simply noted.

Yang then noticed Asta's presence. "And you are?"

"Oh, he's Asta, and he wants to be the Wizard King." Ruby said with a smile, like that was a completely normal thing to say to someone from her world.

"...Okay." Yang said simply, having grown to accept the weirdness of this situation.

"And you must be Ruby's big sister." Vanessa smirked, stepping up to Yang.

"And...you are?" Yang raised an eyebrow at Vanessa and her witch-like attire.

"I'm Vanessa Enoteca," Vanessa said before issuing her challenge, "and starting today, I'm replacing you as Ruby's big sister."

"Excuse me?" Yang's eyes flashed red at this.

"WHOA! WHOA!" Ruby immediately set to playing peacekeeper. "Where's the rule that says I can't have more than one big sister? HEY! Don't fight over me, you two!"

Vanessa and Yang ignored each other and continued to stare each other down. Weiss Schnee, meanwhile, studied the Black Bulls and frowned. "They look like a bunch of delinquents." She said bluntly to Blake Belladonna.

"Weiss, we don't even know them." Blake chided. "I mean come on, I thought you had learned from dealing with me. You shouldn't just judge people so readily and-"

"Hiya, I'm Luck Voltia!" Luck leapt in front of Weiss and Blake. "Will either of you ladies fight me to the death? I love that kinda stuff more than anything! It's my favorite!"

"Nice place!" Magna Swing looked around, grinning at the wide open spaces. "But, hopefully there's a place I can safely put my magazines."

Gauche Adlai got in Blake and Weiss' face as well, showing a picture of Marie. "This is my little sister, Marie." Gauche said to them. "Isn't she an angel?"

"Wanna be friends?" Gordon Agrippa whispered to them quietly and creepily.

Blake sweat-dropped at the quirks of the Black Bulls. Weiss gave Blake her best 'seriously' look. Blake sighed. "Well...we shouldn't think less of them." She conceded.

"Will you idiots shut up already!" Yami Sukehiro yelled at them all.

The Black Bulls all let out frightened eeps at Yami's lack of an indoor voice...even Zora, who frankly did not want to be cut open again so soon. Shuya then noticed Kinpatsu's presence for the first time. He gasped, sensing Reiki from the man. "You're...a Watcher, like us!" He realized. "But wait...I don't recognize you from anywhere."

Kinpatsu nodded. "That's because you wouldn't, kid. I'm an ex-soldier of Rakuen."

Shuya sputtered at this. "Rakuen?!" He exclaimed before looking at Sojiro. "Grandmaster, please forgive me for being blunt but are you out of your mind? Why is he here if he's a soldier of Rakuen?"

"Peace, Shuya," Sojiro raised his hand in the air, silencing the younger man before he could freak out too much, "Kinpatsu means us no harm. He helped us back in the previous world."

"And didn't you hear the part where I said 'ex-soldier' kid?" Kinpatsu asked.

"...Oh, right." Shuya muttered.

"Umm, maybe I might be a little out of the loop here...oh wait, I totally am out of the loop." Yang spoke up. "What exactly is the big deal with this Rakuen place?"

"I'm...actually rather curious about that as well." Oscar Pine admitted, looking at everyone else. "I think I speak for everyone when I say we'd like to hear about this."

Sojiro looked at Kinpatsu. The one-armed man chuckled at being put on the spot. "Well, I did promise to share my story." He said. "It's a long one, but I'll try to keep it simple."

"But to start, it's just as I told the Grandmaster back then." Kinpatsu continued. "My former homeland does not forgive treason and desertion. That is one of their highest tenets."

 **A.N: A lot to unpack here. Augustus is now a figurehead (thank God), Damnatio has stepped down peacefully, a MacGuffin is protecting the Clover Kingdom now (and I'm being honest and calling it what it is, a MacGuffin), and Sojiro's group continues to grow in size. Next time, Kinpatsu reveals his past and we begin the Hunter x Hunter portion of this prologue. Hope everyone enjoyed this!**


	21. Chapter 21: Welcome to Whale Island

**A.N: So, first thing's first. This is not an entire chapter dedicated to Kinpatsu's back story. No, we're getting into the Hunter x Hunter portion of this prologue. That means, we're almost done with the prologue, folks. I hope you enjoy this chapter. Because truth be told, this is one of my favorites in awhile.**

 **Chapter 20: Welcome to Whale Island**

The old, grizzled, ex-Rakuen soldier, rubbed the back of his head, thinking about how he was going to explain all of this. Not just to the people of the kingdom that would have been his enemy in another life, but also to all of these other folks who were not even from his world. "I guess, I should start with a little bit of background, to give you others some insight." Kinpatsu began. "I doubt that most of you know much about mine and the Grandmaster's world."

"I suppose that would be preferable." Sojiro nodded in agreement.

"I have actually been pretty curious about the Grandmaster's world." Ruby Rose admitted. "It would be great if you could tell us all about it."

"Yes, please tell us all about your Avengers-esque world!" Izuku Midoriya excitedly exclaimed, nerding out at the thought of an entire world being filled with people who's basic role was to be the Avengers...people who could fight the battles that others never could.

Kinpatsu looked at Izuku in disbelief. "Er...right, anyway." He said. "First, our world the World of Watchers, is divided up into three sections. The first section is a massive patch of lawless land known as the Kingless Land. It's filled with Watchers who did not wish to live in either kingdom. It's a sort of no-man's land but also...a man's land at the same time."

"That brings me to the more important parts of our world." Kinpatsu continued. "In our world, two kingdoms reign supreme. There is the Kingdom of Menou, which is where your Grandmaster and his friends are from."

"Indeed, ruled by His Majesty, King Chitsujo, Lord of Order." Noriko nodded.

"He who holds the blood of our greatest hero!" Shogo added in his usual boisterous tone.

"It sounds like a lovely place." Weiss Schnee offered.

"Oh it is, we are not just a kingdom, we strive to be a community, a family. Our society is built on encouraging the people to serve each other through acts of charity and kindness of their own volition." Noriko explained.

"That sounds awesome!" Asta exclaimed. "Everyone there sounds super nice!"

Shuya smiled. "It...really is," he admitted, "I love my homeland...we all do. "

"There's not a single person in Menou who would not fight and die for their fellow citizens, not just our glorious king." Shogo added.

"Anyway," Kinpatsu got back on track, "there is Menou, and then there is my former homeland, Rakuen. Ruled by His Majesty, Lord Konton, twin brother to King Chitsujo and Lord of Chaos."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Lord of Chaos?!" Yang Xiao Long exclaimed in shock.

"...He sounds pleasant." Yami Sukehiro deadpanned.

"Lord of Chaos just sounds like a villain name, doesn't it?" Izuku muttered.

"Izuku," Sojiro spoke up, "if you categorize friends and foes based on something so simple, you're not going to make it far as a hero."

"Eh? I'm sorry, Grandmaster, I didn't mean…" Izuku trailed off at the sight of Sojiro's kind and reassuring smile.

"Chaos itself is not inherently evil, just like how darkness itself is not inherently evil." Sojiro explained. "Think of it this way, In every movement that ever created positive change, the process itself was chaos. No matter how peaceful the movement itself is."

"That may be true," Blake Belladonna acknowledged, "but Lord of Chaos, Grandmaster? Someone who'd willingly hold a title like that…"

Sojiro sighed. "I honestly don't know all the specifics. I didn't even know that Kaishi was building a second kingdom for Konton to rule over. For the longest time, people in Menou debated who would rule over Menou after Kaishi's retirement. Would it be the fiery and passionate, but kind and compassionate Chitsujo? Or would it be the wise but ambitious Konton?"

Sojiro chuckled at the memories. "Back in the day, both boys had their pros and cons as men and as heirs. I couldn't go through a single day without hearing palace servants attempting to quietly debate about who would make a better king."

"If I had to guess, I'd say Kaishi was trying to prove that both of his sons would make fine kings, and that they would cooperate and keep each other in check." Sojiro wondered out loud. "If that was the case, it was a noble cause. And besides, I helped raise and train those boys. I'm well aware that both men were capable of becoming fantastic rulers."

"Well, if the Founding Emperor was planning that...he failed miserably." Kinpatsu bluntly noted, making the younger Watchers glare at him. Kinpatsu glared back. "Don't glare at me, you brats, I'm right. You know I'm right"

"Peace," Sojiro said to his comrades, surprisingly calm in the face of that insult against his dearly departed friend, "please, continue Kinpatsu."

"Well, like I said, the Founding Emperor failed miserably. Ironically, it was that failure that eventually drove me to flee from Rakuen." Kinpatsu explained.

"I'm...not sure I understand." Asta admitted.

"I think I do." Oscar Pine admitted. "Sir Kinpatsu...something happened that made you lose faith in your king, didn't it?"

Kinpatsu chuckled. "Sharp lad," he complimented, "I'll get to that."

"When I was a younger man," Kinpatsu got back on track, "I joined the army the first chance I got. Back then, like every other soldier, I was a true patriot of Rakuen, one hundred percent devoted to the king and country. Lord Konton had a lot of flaws...but if there was one thing that I still truly respect the man for, is that he is every bit as charismatic as his father."

"After all, you'd have to be pretty charismatic to inspire enough loyalty to declare war and conquer the entire universe." Kinpatsu grimly added.

"WHAT?!" Izuku exclaimed at this.

"It's true," Sojiro sighed, "shortly after my group began our journey as Travelers, Konton and Rakuen declared war on Menou...and four very powerful worlds."

"His own brother?!" Yang was outraged. "That son of a bitch declared war on his own brother?! How could he do something like that?!"

Kinpatsu snorted. "Quite easily, apparently." He noted. "Lord Konton had apparently been planning this for centuries...though I've been out of the loop for awhile, I don't know how that war is going."

"It has plunged those four worlds into chaos, obviously." Noriko glared at Kinpatsu. "But other than that, I'll have you know our kingdom and our allies are beating Rakuen's forces back. We're winning so far."

Kinpatsu then smiled, surprising everyone. "Good, that's good." He said, chuckling at Noriko's expression. "I told you not to glare at me, there's no reason to. I haven't been involved in Rakuen for years. Hell, I wanted out as soon as I discovered just what Lord Konton had planned for the universe."

"And what exactly does this Konton have planned for the universe, Mr. Kinpatsu?" Ruby asked curiously.

Kinpatsu chuckled at Ruby's way of addressing him. "I like the sound of that, 'Mr. Kinpatsu.'" He said before his face fell. "Unfortunately, I really can't tell you...any of you."

"Can't or won't?" Yang forgot her outrage at Konton to glare at Kinpatsu for that comment. It hit a bit too close to home for her at the moment.

Sojiro and Ruby shot Yang a warning look, making the brawler realize that she had made something of a knee-jerk reaction. "Er, sorry Pops, force of habit." She said sheepishly, sincerely ashamed of falling back on some old habits.

"Ah, no worries," Kinpatsu waved Yang off, "I get it. I'd be a little suspicious if a guy who claims he used to work for an evil overlord said he couldn't tell anyone about the evil overlord's evil plans. Anyway, why don't I show you why I can't really tell you."

Kinpatsu then opened his mouth and stuck out his tongue. "...I don't get it." Asta said bluntly. "What does your tongue have to do with why you can't tell us?"

"Whoa," Luck Voltia spoke up after a surprising silence, "I'm sensing something super evil on that tongue."

Noelle Silva squinted at Kinpatsu's tongue and gasped. "Luck's right, there's some sort of weird markings on his tongue in the shape of a circle...with an 'x' in the middle...like a seal!"

"Got it in one, Kiddo." Kinpatsu nodded with a smirk. "This seal prevents me from revealing any secrets about my kingdom. Trying to talk about it will cause me immense pain. And if I try to force myself...well, it could kill me. And I've got a lot of living left to do."

Sojiro could not believe what he was hearing. _Konton, how could you? You'd put a seal that dangerous on your own subjects?_

"He got that idea from the Ninja World." Noriko realized. "That's...that's too horrible! Does he really not care what those seals do to the people they're on?"

Kinpatsu shook his head. "If he did, he wouldn't have given the order." He pointed out before gesturing to his eyepatch. "And while we're on the subject of seals, there's one on this eye as well. It's why I wear this eyepatch. Normally, I'd be able to see out of both eyes just fine. But, the bastard who put that seal on my tongue also put a different seal on my eye."

"Same guy did that? He sounds pleasant." Yami sarcastically noted.

"What does this particular seal do, Kinpatsu?" Oscar asked curiously.

Kinpatsu sighed. "This seal actually is used to keep surveillance on me." He revealed. It allows someone who forms a connection with the seal to see everything that I see. It's why I keep my eye covered with an eyepatch. Whoever's trying to see through my eye...well, they're not going to see anything."

"Is there any way to remove the seals?" Shuya asked.

"I mean, I could gouge out my eye, sure, and cut out my tongue." Kinpatsu shrugged. "But, one's super painful and the other will cause me to bleed to death. Yeah, no thanks."

"...Fair enough." Shuya shuddered at the morbid solutions.

"Truth be told, these seals were exactly why I didn't go to Menou after leaving Rakuen." Kinpatsu admitted. "I knew I'd be immediately interrogated about my kingdom's secrets...and of course I couldn't afford to have Rakuen see what I was seeing in Menou, I couldn't do that to the people there, especially knowing what I know."

"That's a shame, if Chitsujo had known of your situation, he would've gladly made an exception." Sojiro promised.

"See, you know that, but I didn't." Kinpatsu sighed.

"Mr. Kinpatsu," Ruby spoke up, "why did you leave? What in the world caused them to put those seals on you?"

Kinpatsu nodded. "I was getting to that." He admitted.

"Like I said, I was once a faithful soldier, a true patriot like everyone else in the Rakuen Army." Kinpatsu reminded them. "And I had the strength to back up that patriotism. See, I was once a much stronger man."

"Because you had both arms, right?" Magna Swing asked.

"...Yes, exactly that." Kinpatsu nodded. "Truth be told, I'm only at about 10-20% of my full strength, now that I've only got one arm."

"Anyway," Kinpatsu continued, "in Rakuen, our kingdom is a military of meritocracy. The strong are given positions of power, and the weak follow their orders. Of course, there is Lord Konton himself at the top. Then there's his elite guard: the Nine Dark Circles. And then there are the Circles' Courts, handpicked soldiers that serve them personally."

"And below all of them are the kingdom's Nine Branches, which are basically nine divisions of soldiers." Kinpatsu explained. "And commanding those nine branches are the 72 Pillars, 72 incredibly powerful officers who command Rakuen's army in the field. Among the 72 Pillars are 63 Branch Officers of varying titles, and 9 Branch Kings."

"Umm...not that I don't appreciate the history lesson, Pops, but what exactly does all this have to do with you?" Yang asked.

"Simple, I was going to become one of the 72 Pillars." Kinpatsu revealed. "I was praised as one with tremendous potential. Lord Konton himself recognized my strength, promising me that if I kept working hard, I could one day become one of the Circles."

"I'm going to go out on a limb and say that was where things went wrong for you." Yami bluntly noted. "Usually, when guys reach this point in the story, they're about to reveal how things went wrong. You're no different, right?"

Kinpatsu chuckled. "Yeah, you're right." He said.

"Here's the thing," Kinpatsu once again got back on track, "when you become a high-ranking person in Rakuen...you're entitled to learning certain secrets. The kinds of secrets that would get me killed by this damn seal on my tongue if I started blabbing now."

"What happened?" Izuku asked.

"I was about to be promoted to one of the Pillars. And in preparation, I was brought to the king to learn the secrets of our kingdom. He told me everything, his plans for universal domination, how he had been preparing for all of it, for all these centuries, and how he expected me to buy into his plans." Kinpatsu revealed.

"And you disagreed, didn't you?" Ruby immediately realized.

"I was a patriot of my kingdom. I believed in orders. I believed in loyalty to my king." Kinpatsu solemnly admitted. "However, I am still a man with morals of my own. I am more than just my homeland. I am more than just loyalty to my king."

Kinpatsu sighed. "I had always believed Lord Konton to be a just man, and if he were to declare war on our brother kingdom, Menou, I believed he would have had a just reason for it, and that alone would've been enough for me to lay down my life as a soldier of Rakuen for his sake."

"But when I heard of what he was planning to do after taking over our world...and the things he had done in preparation for this grand conquest of his...I lost all faith in him. I felt no pride in my homeland after hearing all of that."

"And so, I pleaded to Lord Konton, trying to appeal to his better nature, telling him that there were more peaceful ways to take command of the universe."

"But when I realized he had no intention of budging...I snapped. I screamed at him. Cursed him. Called him the devil in mortal flesh. And he just sat there, giving me the most twisted smile I had ever seen from a man before. And by the time I had finished saying my piece, I realized what he had done to me."

"What did he do?" Asta asked.

"He trapped me." Kinpatsu revealed. "Lord Konton...he tells prospective officers in his army the truth as a test of loyalty. And if we fail...we die. I had heard stories of men and women who were going to be officers who died on missions outside of Rakuen. I only realized afterwards that those same men and women had failed this test like I did and what I thought was their fates had been a cover-up. At that moment, I honestly thought I was going to die."

"But he didn't kill you." Sojiro pointed out. "Why?"

"Lord Konton began to laugh, and he told me: 'if you feel that strongly, Kinpatsu, then perhaps you should flee? To Menou in fact, where you can tell my brother all about my plan. We'll give you a day's head start, and then the Circles will hunt you down.'"

"He did that? That's sick!" Blake said outraged. "You can't hunt someone down like an animal like that!"

"Why were you different from all the others?" Vanessa Enoteca asked curiously. "What made you so special that your fate got to be different from theirs?"

Kinpatsu shrugged. "Who's to say? A whim? Maybe for his own amusement? Or maybe the king had plans for me, even though I wanted nothing to do with him any longer." He wondered out loud.

"Anyway, at that moment, I panicked. I ran as fast as I could, trying to reach Menou before my head start ran out and I was hunted by the Circles. I was halfway to Menou before that head start ended...and it still wasn't enough."

"Seriously?" Ruby could not believe that. Even as fast as she was, there was no way someone could catch up that quickly.

"Before I knew it, I was set upon by two of the Circles. One stood by and laughed while the other beat me within an inch of my life. I lost my dominant arm to that one, and now I can't swing Taiyomaru like I used to as a result. And then, as I laid broken and bleeding from that Circle's attacks...the other Circle came upon me and placed the seals you saw on me."

"When I finally woke up, I was being nursed back to health by a monastery set up within the Kingless Lands." Kinpatsu revealed. "I was bedridden for a month before I could move again, such was the extent of my injuries."

"God," Finral Roulacesse could hardly believe such brutality. And this was a guy who had once had holes put into him by his half brother.

"I quickly caught onto the seals, and I realized that even if I did escape to Menou, they would be able to spy on them through me. I couldn't do that to Menou or its people, knowing they were not the enemy now." Kinpatsu solemnly admitted.

"So, as fate would have it, the monastery's head priest was a former Traveler, who had wanted to live out his retirement helping the people of the Kingless Lands." Kinpatsu revealed. "He took pity on me, so he taught me the secrets of travel between worlds, and I eventually ended up in Asta's world, to live out the remainder of my days quietly."

"And instead, I end up dealing with an enemy that was long thought to have been erased from existence." Kinpatsu lamented. "Sheesh, what a fine mess I've gotten myself into. All of this because I screamed at my own boss one damn time."

"Well, even if that's true, maybe it's a good thing you're here." Ruby offered.

"I'm not sure I follow, Kid." Kinpatsu raised an eyebrow at Ruby's statement.

Ruby gave the grizzled man a gentle smile. "Mr. Kinpatsu, you saved our lives. If it weren't for you, we'd have been killed for sure."

"Maybe you think your life was ruined because you stood up to your king, but I disagree." Ruby admitted. "In spite of all you've lost, look at all the good you've done and now have the potential to do."

"You stood up for what you believed was right, not caring about the consequences. You were willing to run to an enemy kingdom because you knew that was right. And even after you had to run away from everything, you didn't hesitate to save all of us when we were in trouble. And now...you're going to help us take down the Cult."

"For whatever it's worth, I think you're exactly where you need to be right now, Mr. Kinpatsu." Ruby said kindly.

Yang smiled instinctively at her little sister's big heart. Kinpatsu looked at Ruby in shock before chuckling. "I've spent so long thinking that my fate was a curse, I never even once saw the possible benefits." He acknowledged. "Perhaps it is time I start looking at it from a different perspective?"

"Kid, thanks," Kinpatsu then smiled genuinely at Ruby, "and you're right, I am going to help you guys take down those Cultists. I may not be a soldier to any country, but I am still a man who can't stand seeing villains like them do whatever the hell they want. I may have only one arm to give, but I'll give it freely to help in this war."

"Splendid, your help will certainly be welcome, Sir Kinpatsu." Sojiro said with a satisfied smile. "With your strength, I'm definitely far more comfortable taking on the Cult while our otherworld allies train to reach this level."

"So, what is next, Grandmaster?" Izuku asked curiously. "I believe you mentioned something about one last world, yes?"

Sojiro nodded. Everyone leaned in to listen intently about what the plan was. "When my team came here, we discovered that there were four immediate worlds in the vicinity. There's no doubt that the Cult of the End will be targeting the fourth world next. We need to go to that world, warn the people, and try to gain their support for the fight."

"So this is how you guys have been doing it." Yami noted, folding his arms. "It still seems surreal. That something like this is actually possible."

"You get used to it, Captain Yami." Noriko assured the Magic Knight Captain. "The universe is massive, far more massive than you could ever imagine."

"So, will we be moving as a small group like before?" Izuku asked curiously.

"Indeed, my reasoning from before still stands. The larger the group, the greater the chance of us being treated as an invasion force, especially now that we now have the Black Bulls with us." Sojiro said.

"Oi, mind if I speak up for a bit old man?" Yami asked.

"Speak freely, Yami." Sojiro responded.

"You should consider allowing more of a larger group." Yami suggested. "It's pretty clear to me after what happened at the capital that you don't have the manpower to fight them in such a small group. And a confrontation with them is inevitable in this last world."

"I really wish that weren't the case." Noriko muttered.

"Now, I'm not saying have a small army." Yami acknowledged. "Because you're right, the last thing you want is for the people of this world to think you're attacking them."

"That being said," Yami continued, "I think we can afford to send a few more people with you, to add just a bit more manpower."

Sojiro hummed in acknowledgement at this. "You bring up a fair point, Yami." He said. "I suppose as long as we don't overdo it, it should be fine."

"Obviously, myself, Noriko, and Kinpatsu will be going." Sojiro said. "I need my personal nurse, and Kinpatsu's presence should tip the scales to a more balanced state as long as we don't run into any Cardinals."

"Izuku, Asta and Ruby will be joining us as well. I intend to keep my promise to train those three." Sojiro continued.

Sojiro then looked at the rest of the group. "Now then, any volunteers?" He asked. "I think we should go for...ten people total, including the ones I had already listed."

"Allow me to accompany you, Grandmaster." Weiss raised her hand. "Ruby is my partner and friend...someone needs to look out for her."

"Thank ya, Bestie!" Ruby said chipperly.

Noelle huffed. "I'll be going as well," she volunteered, turning red, "n-not because I'm worried about Asta's wellbeing or anything."

"I think I'll be going too." Yami grinned. "That last fight I had with that swordsman ended way too damn early for me to really understand just how strong these Cultists are."

"I should go too, I need to look out for my little sister, after all." Yang grinned.

"That's ten, guess I'm left out this time." Blake sighed.

Sojiro looked at Qrow and Oscar. "Do either of you have any objections to this? Ozpin, what about you?"

Ozpin took over Oscar's body, much to the shock of the Black Bulls, who did not exactly have the best experiences with bodily possession. "Oscar and I should stay here." Ozpin said. "It's clear to me that Oscar still doesn't have the strength to handle my power yet, so I'd like to train with him a bit longer."

Qrow sighed. "And as much as I'd love to come with you instead of Yang to look after Ruby...honestly, it's better I don't come with you."

Sojiro frowned at this. "How do you figure, Qrow?"

"Sir...my Semblance is bad luck." Qrow said. "As in, I cause bad luck. But I can't really control it. As in, it affects friend and foe alike. If I come with you guys...God only knows what will happen to you because of me."

Sojiro frowned at this. Of all things, he never would've expected Qrow to have such a depressing attitude about himself. He then gave Qrow a reassuring smile. "Very well," he said, "however, when I return, you can count yourself as one of my students."

"Eh?" Qrow looked at Sojiro in surprise.

"It's clear to me that you need lessons in controlling your Semblance, Qrow." Sojiro noted. "So, let's see if we can change that. That way, you no longer have to worry about being some sort of bad luck charm for your friends and family."

"If you think you can do it, feel free to try, I won't stop ya." Qrow sighed. "But Oz and me...we tried to control it for years, even back when I was part of Team STRQ…"

"Well, now I'd like to try and help you control it, it's that simple." Sojiro firmly told him.

"Hold, Grandmaster, I noticed you didn't list my name in the party." Shogo spoke up, actually sounding somewhat hurt.

"That's because I want you to take a break, Shogo." Sojiro told him. "You've been fighting very hard lately. Take a load off, and spend some time sparring with the others here. That way, while I can't really train the rest of these people, they can at least start to improve before we return."

Shogo grumbled at this. "I wanted to do something a bit more heroic though." He whined.

Sojiro chuckled at Shogo's behavior. "Shogo," he said to the younger man, "you will have plenty of chances to fight the bad guys, that I promise you. However, I need you to do this for me. I can't train the rest of the group until we've returned. I need you to do the same through sparring with them."

Shogo's expression brightened at the thought of being useful to Sojiro like this. He gave a mock-salute to the grandmaster, his giant smile returning in an instant. "As you command, Grandmaster!" He said cheerfully.

"Geez his mood swings like a pendulum." Finral noted.

"Alright, with all of that squared away, we'll make our way to this final world." Sojiro said. "I give you but two commands, fight hard when you have to, and stay alive. Let's all return to this place together."

With that, Sojiro's newest 'Landing Party', so to speak, rose from their seats. Sojiro stepped away from the group. He quickly spoke the incantation and the golden path opened up before everyone. "The rules are the same as always. Stay behind me, and you will stay on the path. Fall off, and there will be no returning for any of you."

"Falling into eternal darkness. Nothing about that sounds pleasant." Weiss muttered.

"All the more reason to stay close and behind me." Sojiro reminded her.

With that, the rest of Sojiro's group filed in behind the old man. "Best of luck you three." Blake said to her teammates.

"Do your best, Captain Yami sir!" Magna Swing added. "Same to you, Asta, Noelle!"

"We'll be back before you know it!" Asta gave Magna a thumbs-up.

With that, the ten-man team entered the portal, which quickly closed behind them. "So," Jaune Arc spoke up, addressing Shuya, "what happens after they visit this world?"

Shuya shrugged. "Hard to say," he said, "most likely we'll be making preparations to make our alliance permanent and actually come up with a plan of action to drive out the Cult before they're allowed to continue their plans."

"Do you really think it's possible for four different worlds to cooperate like this, common enemy or not?" Lie Ren asked curiously.

"I mean, Lord Chitsujo and the Alliance fighting against Rakuen are proving it right now." Shogo said with a smile. "Granted, your worlds, and whatever this world is...they're vastly different from the worlds that Lord Chitsujo is working with."

"I'll admit this much, we citizens of Menou...we're hopelessly optimistic." Shuya chuckled. "We choose to believe in the universe's potential for good...so we'll put our faith that these worlds will answer the call to fight...especially for survival."

Meanwhile, Sojiro's group was quick to arrive in the new world. They immediately took note of the ocean that was laid out directly in front of them. "Oh, cool we ended up on the beach." Asta excitedly noted.

"Hmm," Sojiro quickly took in his surroundings, "it would appear, we've actually ended up on an island of sorts."

Sojiro sighed. "Well, this is going to make things a bit more difficult."

"Eh? Why's that?" Izuku asked.

"How the blazes are we going to explain to the locals that we just...showed up here on their island out of nowhere."

Yami heaved a sigh at this. "Yeah, that is going to be a problem." He acknowledged. "Well, hope you're good at improv, old man."

"We'll figure something out." Sojiro said with a sigh. "If this island is inhabited, I'm sure they have ships going in and out of harbors. We'll just have to say we hitched a ride on one of those boats."

"So what then, we just pray that this is a popular tourist destination?" Kinpatsu asked. "Even if this island is inhabited, if it's some out of the way place, no one's going to believe we just hitched a ride to Nowhere Island."

"That's not very nice," Ruby pouted, "I'm sure we're on Somewhere Island."

"Hey, here's an idea, why don't we actually find the residents of this island?" Weiss suggested with a deadpan expression on this face.

"I'm...actually amazed none of you even thought of that yet." Noelle added, before smiling at Weiss. "Though I do appreciate you thinking of that...Weiss was it? It seems you and I are going to get along more than anyone here."

"Great minds think alike...Noelle, right?" Weiss smiled right back.

"EH? Have I been replaced?!" Ruby sobbed.

"Umm...excuse me?" At that moment, a new voice spoke up.

Everyone froze and face-faulted at the same time. They were all so caught up in their own problems, that they did not even consider someone finding them first.

They turned to see a little boy in green with spiky black hair and a confused expression on his face. "Are...you all lost?" He asked.

Sojiro quickly regained his composure and laughed nervously. "That we are lad." He said.

"Kinda weird you'd get lost here." The boy noted. "I mean, I've never seen you around here, so I'm going to say you're tourists."

This made the group fall silent. "And people rarely visit Whale Island," the boy continued, "kinda weird you'd be tourists here...and still, how do you get lost here when the harbor is so close to town?"

"Well, Ruby was so excited, she ran off to sight-see...by the time we caught up to her, she had gotten us lost." Weiss immediately improvised an excuse.

Ruby's mouth dropped open at being made the idiotic scapegoat of this whole story. The boy then shrugged and smiled. "I guess that checks out." He said. "You must be full of energy to be excited about coming to a place like this. It's a pretty small island, ya know. Not much to do other than fish and hunt."

 _Trusting kid._ Kinpatsu raised an eyebrow at the boy's response.

"Well, how about I take you all back to town?" He suggested. "Although, if you don't mind, we're going to have to stop by my house, first."

"We'd hate to impose." Sojiro said.

"No way," the boy's smile widened, "you seem like nice people, so I'd like to do something nice for you. Besides, I'm sure Aunt Mito wouldn't mind either, or Granny."

Sojiro nodded. He was never one to turn down generous hospitality. "Very well, young man, I suppose we'll accept your offer then." He said. "What is your name?"

"I'm Gon, Gon Freecss," Gon introduced himself, "you all can introduce yourselves to me on the way back to my place."

Meanwhile, in a small little cottage, a tall, fair-skinned woman with hazel eyes and shoulder length hair was calmly prepping tonight's dinner. She heaved a sigh, noting how quiet the house was, except for the news blaring in the background. "I tell that boy he's allowed to go hunting, and at this point, he's not going to be back until dinner." She sighed again. "And he promised me he'd start on his homework before dinner…"

The woman's attention was then drawn to the news. "We have just received an update on the loss of contact with the Begerosse Union." The anchorman said. "Fair warning, please steady yourselves. This information is quite grim."

"We have discovered that the loss of contact with the Begerosse Union was due to an attack from unknown enemies." The anchorman revealed. "Currently, we know nothing of the attackers. No terrorist groups or other countries have taken responsibility for the attack."

The anchorman paused before continuing. "We still have nothing on the death toll either. As far as we know, there are no refugees from the Begerosse Union that have spoken out about the attack. And...it seems that the team of Crime Hunters that had been sent into the Begerosse Union to investigate the attack...the Hunter Association has lost contact with them."

The woman's eyes widened at this. "What in the world is happening there?" She wondered out loud. "An entire team of Crime Hunters...vanished?"

"I am also just now learning that world leaders across the world are seriously considering martial law." The anchorman said. "If the leader of your country chooses to introduce martial law, please remember to cooperate for your own safety. Meanwhile, we will continue to provide new information on the Begerosse Union's fate."

The woman hummed at this. "I guess...I should be glad that Gon is not a hunter anymore...even though I know he loved it so much."

"Aunt Mito!" She perked up at the sound of Gon's voice.

"Ah, speak of the devil." Mito Freecss said with a small frown.

"Gon," Mito walked over to the sound of her nephew's voice, "when I told you that you could go hunting, I never said you could stay out this long. You promised you'd do your homework before dinner. How can you possibly make a dent in it now at this point…"

Mito trailed off when she saw that Gon was not alone. Sojiro gave Mito a polite wave and smile. "Ah, you must be his Aunt Mito," Sojiro said, "I apologize for imposing like this, it's just that your nephew was insistent that we accompany him to his home."

Mito looked at the group of ten standing behind Gon and sighed. Seriously, this boy…

Mito then smiled at Gon. "Honestly, Gon, you'd bring every stray animal home at the rate you're going." She noted. "Well, I suppose I'll just have to prep more for dinner."

"Oh, you don't have to." Sojiro said, with the rest of the group nodding in agreement.

"No, no, I insist." Mito smiled politely. "Honestly, we've got so much food in this house that'd go bad otherwise. You would not believe how much I had to stock up on before this boy came home. I...kinda overdid it."

"Let me help you, Ms. Freecss." Izuku stepped up. "I help my mom quite a bit in cooking. If you're really going to make dinner for all of us, you should let me help you."

"That's very generous of you, sweetie." Mito smiled. "What's your name?"

"Izuku Midoriya, Ms. Freecss." Izuku said politely.

"I'll help too," Yang quickly stepped up as well, "I've also got plenty of experience in the kitchen helping out dad back home."

"Two of you should be enough." Mito nodded. "Anyone else, and you've just got too many cooks."

"Best of luck you two, Aunt Mito's a slavedriver in the kitchen." Gon snickered.

"Then you know what I'm going to ask you to do as well, right Gon?" Mito gave Gon a smile that had the chill of death behind it.

"Er...right, I'll get started on my homework, Aunt Mito." Gon said nervously.

Gon went into the living room. Izuku and Yang quickly followed Mito into the kitchen to help her with dinner. This left the remaining eight members of the group to stand awkwardly by the door. "I think I'll just go out and smoke." Yami said, stepping outside.

"You got an extra? If so, I think I'll join you." Kinpatsu followed Yami.

At that moment, the remaining six heard a cry of frustration in the living room. It was Gon. Weiss, Noelle and Noriko sweat-dropped. "Must be tough homework." Noriko noted.

With their curiosity piqued, Ruby and Sojiro entered the living room to see a little wrinkly old lady laughing at a visibly frustrated Gon, who was hunched over books and papers. Ruby immediately recognized that Gon was reading school textbooks, just by looking at the title. "Tough homework problem, Gon?" Ruby asked.

"Y-yeah," Gon rubbed his spiky hair, "man, why'd they have to pour on math in addition to that 10,000 word report?"

Ruby gave Gon a sweet smile and sat down next to him. "Well, let me see what you're doing, maybe I can help."

Ruby took a moment to read over Gon's math homework. Sojiro chuckled and smiled at Ruby's behavior. She really was a sweet girl. Ruby nodded in understanding. "Okay, Gon, I think I have an idea of how to make things easier for you."

"Really?" Gon was surprised at this.

"The key," Ruby told him, "is to look at these math problems from the perspective of something you like and understand. What do you like to do, Gon?"

"...I like fishing." Gon replied.

"Oh, perfect, this problem deals with angles, so let's try something like this: If you cast your line at a perfect 60 degree angle, and then comes down at 80 degrees, what would the angle it lands at?"

"What?"

"Think of it like a triangle, Gon." Ruby said patiently. "It goes straight up at 60 degrees, and then comes down in an arc of 80 degrees. What is the third angle?"

Gon remained silent. Ruby kept her patient and understanding smile. "I'll give this one to you for free," she said to him, "a triangle always adds up to 180 degrees."

Gon then started adding the numbers in his head. "Well then," he said, 60+80=140. Okay, so that means I'd have to subtract that from 180, right?"

Ruby nodded. "Okay, so 180-140...that would be 40 degrees!"

Ruby nodded again and smiled. "That's exactly right, Gon."

"Wow, so just...try to apply something I like to math problems to make it easier?" Gon asked.

"Exactly, you should never feel like you have to only think about the answer from how they word the question. Find a way to think about the question and its answer with something you understand." Ruby explained. "My dad taught me this trick when I was a little girl struggling with this kind of stuff."

Sojiro chuckled. "My word, Ruby, I can't help but wonder if you'd make a better teacher than a warrior." He said good-heartedly.

"A warrior?" Gon perked up at this. "How strong are you, Ruby?"

"Heh, pretty strong," Ruby said, blushing in embarrassment, "though I'm definitely nowhere near as strong as Grandmaster Sojiro...or Captain Yami and Mr. Kinpatsu, too."

"Cool…" Gon said, with stars in his eyes.

"Gon, focus on your homework!" Mito yelled from the kitchen.

Gon yelped at this and returned his gaze to his homework. Sojiro and Ruby laughed in amusement. "Sorry, Gon, it seems we got you in trouble." Ruby noted.

"We can talk about that kind of stuff over dinner, when you're not doing your schoolwork." Sojiro promised.

"Don't worry, Gon, I'll help you with the rest of your math problems." Ruby promised.

"Can you help me with this big report I've got to do too?" Gon asked.

Ruby laughed nervously. "That I can't do. Something tells me it's super personal, and I know nothing about your life." She pointed out, making Gon whimper in defeat.

Two hours later, a great feast was ready, courtesy of Mito Freecss, Izuku Midoriya, and Yang Xiao Long. Several plates of various meats, vegetables and fruits, all brought together on a large table. "This looks so good!" Ruby said with a cheer.

"Izuku, Yang, Ms. Mito, you three have truly created something fantastic." Sojiro commented.

"Some of you will have to eat in the family or living room." Mito pointed out. "My apologies. We don't normally have company this large."

"No need to apologize, we're the ones who ended up imposing...even if Gon did say it was okay." Sojiro noted.

"Hmm, actually, why don't we all eat in the family room? There's enough space there, and I frankly would like to talk to you people as well." Mito admitted.

"Oh? Is there something wrong, Ms. Mito?" Noriko asked.

"I just wish to try to get to know the people my dear nephew decided to bring home this time." Mito chuckled. "I've definitely never seen you around Whale Island before."

And so, the party convened in the family room to enjoy this great feast. And boy, was it great. Something Asta was quick to exclaim. "So good!" Asta yelled. "Oh man, these might actually be better than Sister Lily's potato-themed dishes!"

"...Potato-themed?" Weiss looked at Asta in confusion.

"He grew up a commoner," Noelle explained, "so, he had some rather...plain dishes growing up."

"Oh? I didn't realize we had nobility in this house." Mito immediately caught onto Weiss and Noelle's noble statuses. "My apologies you two, this probably isn't as nice as what you're used to."

Noelle and Weiss gasped, realizing they had probably come off as arrogant and spoiled to Mito. "Oh, nothing like that, Ms. Mito, we promise." Weiss said.

"Yes, in fact, yours, Izuku and Yang's cooking is actually just as good as my servants' cooking." Noelle added truthfully.

"Well thank you, you two, that's very kind of you to say." Mito told them with a friendly, motherly smile.

"Now then," Mito continued, "who exactly are you people, and why are you here?"

Sojiro's group looked at each other. Remembering their plan, Sojiro responded. "Well," he said, "the younglings are actually students of mine. Yami, Kinpatsu, and myself are taking them on a training trip. Somewhere remote and out of the way where we won't be disturbed. So, we chose Whale Island."

"Hmm, this is a good place to do it." Mito admitted. "Ging loved training here in his younger years, back when he lived here. He used to tell me that no one bothered him that way. Well, except for me that is."

"That's because Ging had to save you sometimes when you got lost in the woods." Mito's grandmother pointed out, making Mito turn red in embarrassment.

"Ging?" Noriko repeated that name.

"Ah, Ging Freecss, my cousin. He's Gon's father." Mito said.

"Oh, and where's Ging now? Shouldn't he be with his son?" Sojiro asked.

Mito scoffed at this. "Oh please, Ging couldn't be bothered to raise Gon when he was a baby. No way was that going to change."

"Aww, come on, Aunt Mito, even if you were right about a lot of stuff about Ging, he's not that bad a guy." Gon said in defense of his father.

"Gon, you don't even call your father 'father.'" Sojiro pointed out.

"Well, he wasn't exactly around to raise me, so Mito's right about one thing, he's not much of a father." Gon chuckled. "Honestly, as far as I'm concerned, Mito's the only parent I've got and need."

"I hear you," Yang smiled before sighing, "I actually ran into my long-lost mom recently...can't believe a part of me actually wanted to forget my super stepmom for her."

"Sheesh, what a weird family dynamic." Noriko muttered.

"So, tell me, Grandmaster Sojiro," Mito returned to the subject at hand, "after this training trip, what exactly do you intend to do?"

"Well, we'll probably continue traveling and training." Sojiro shrugged.

Mito looked at Sojiro like he had grown a second head. "That...might not be a good idea. What with everything that is happening to the Begerosse Union." She pointed out, as though it were common knowledge.

Sojiro looked somewhat nervous at this. He had no idea what was happening. "Right, that is true, I suppose." He tried to play it off.

Thankfully, Gon came to his rescue. "Mito, what's happening to the Begerosse Union?" He asked.

"Gon, I've had the news on all day ever since the incident first came up. Have you really not been paying attention?" Mito looked at Gon in shock.

Gon pouted. "I think it was you who wanted my attention devoted to my homework at 100%, right?"

Mito's mouth dropped open at this before sighing. "Fair enough," she said with a sigh, "I did tell you that."

Mito sighed. "Gon, the Begerosse Union has completely gone dark...well, that doesn't seem to be accurate now." She noted. "From what I've heard...it really sounds like that the Begerosse Union has been destroyed by...something."

All ten members of Sojiro's party were immediately put on guard by this. No. They were too late. This had to be the Cult's doing.

"Something?" Sojiro raised an eyebrow. "You'll have to forgive us, we haven't really been able to keep up with the news lately either...what with the traveling."

Mito nodded. "Well, that's the thing, there's still not much information. According to the newscasters...there have been no refugees to tell what happened. And, apparently they sent in Crime Hunters to investigate what happened...none of them have been heard from since."

"God…" Izuku muttered, immediately realizing what was happening.

Mito looked at Sojiro. "Grandmaster," she said, "if you really plan to continue traveling, I must advise against it. A lot of nations across the world could very well go under martial law soon, and with that, we'll probably be asked to stay in our homes for our own safety, at least until we have to evacuate somewhere."

"I...see…" Sojiro muttered.

Ruby was nearly hyperventilating as she began to realize just how bad this actually was. _Oh Gods,_ she thought to herself, _they've already wiped out an entire country. Oh Gods, have they already done the same to Atlas? Mistral? Vacuo? Oh Gods, what about Vale? DAD!_

Ruby then felt someone grip her arm. She looked to see Izuku giving her a reassuring smile. Ruby's eyes widened. Izuku...he had actually noticed her distress and was now trying to calm her down without making a scene. She calmed down. It was easy to calm down when she had such a caring friend looking out for her. She smiled back at Izuku.

Mito sighed. "Anyway," she said, "if you are leaving Whale Island, you'll want to do it soon, before things get so bad you can't do anything. Although, I doubt you'll find any boats willing to take you out. This is a small fishing island, after all, and the fishermen can't afford to be away from these waters too long, since fishing is their livelihood."

"You'll have to wait until tomorrow until any passenger boats return." Mito said solemnly.

Sojiro folded his arms. _Damn it, of all places to end up...and the Cult is already beginning to purge this world. This is bad. This is really bad._

"There's really nothing we can do, Ms. Mito?" Noriko asked.

Mito chuckled humorlessly. "Well, unless you can swim a tremendous distance, you have to wait here. There's just no choice. But passenger ships will continue to run until they're no longer allowed to. That's just how it is here."

"Hmm, then we should probably leave tomorrow and return to the...dojo." Sojiro noted, still playing up the group's cover story.

"Yes, that's for the best." Mito smiled sadly. "I'm sorry you all had to come all this way, only to have to go back. Things are just getting really bad out there."

"No, it's no trouble." Sojiro assured her. "Thank you for your concern, Ms. Mito, and for feeding us as well. This food is delicious."

Dinner was soon finished. "Oh man that was one hell of a meal." Asta groaned, holding his comically inflated belly.

"Disgusting…" Noelle face-palmed before blushing.

 _God, I'm going to have to cook that much for him if we ever...no way! I do not want to marry that idiot and dote on him like a housewife! No way! No way! No way!_

Ruby was gazing at Noelle in confusion. "What's up with her?" Ruby wondered out loud.

Noriko chuckled before taking one last sip of her water. "Oh, she's probably not being very honest about her feelings." She said in a very matter of fact tone.

Ruby was now looking at Noriko in confusion. Meanwhile, Izuku and Yang stepped back into the room, having finished helping Mito clean the kitchen. "Are you two finished?" Sojiro asked, receiving two thumbs up in response.

"Good, we should probably be leaving now." Sojiro pointed out.

"Oh? Leaving so soon, Grandmaster?" Mito stepped out of the kitchen.

Sojiro smiled. "You've been very gracious, Ms. Mito, but we can't really impose any longer."

"You won't at least consider sleeping here?" Gon asked.

Mito sighed. "Gon, as polite as it is to offer that, you know we don't have room for ten people to sleep here. I'd point you to an inn…"

"We unfortunately do not have money to pay." Sojiro admitted. "We'll simply camp outside. It's important for the students to learn how to survive in the elements as well, yes."

"Ha! You consider Whale Island 'the elements', Grandmaster?" Mito asked.

"Compared to what they've been through, no." Sojiro admitted. "However, I don't think it's necessarily wrong to give them something a bit easier so that they focus on keeping good habits while surviving in the wild."

"I suppose that's true too." Mito acknowledged.

"I also promised to train them as well." Sojiro added. "We need some wide open spaces for that."

This made Gon excited. "Ooh, ooh, can I come and watch?"

This made Sojiro's party freeze. If this kid saw what they could actually do, he would find out for sure they were not of this world. Thankfully, Mito came to their rescue, unknowingly. "I believe you have homework to get back to, Gon." She reminded him.

"B-but Mito…" Gon whined.

"No buts, mister." Mito said to him. "Compared to everything else you've been through, homework should be nothing."

"But it's something to me!" Gon countered.

"Gon, you should listen to Ms. Mito." Sojiro told him. "After all, a boy your age needs to make sure he's both strong and wise. Strength and wisdom are two of the three musts for a man."

Gon grumbled. "If you say so, Grandmaster." He conceded, surprising Mito. Sojiro must be quite the charismatic old man to get Gon to listen that easily.

"Say your goodbyes for now, everyone." Sojiro ordered. "We'll try to stop by and say some proper goodbyes before we leave the island tomorrow."

"See ya, Gon." Ruby waved at him. "Don't forget my advice on your math. It won't trouble you again that way."

"Thanks for the great meal, Ms. Mito." Asta said politely.

As all ten members of Sojiro's party filed out of Mito's home, Gon's mother figure then found herself thinking of something that seemed odd to her. _Wait...if they have no money, how do they expect to pay for passage out of Whale Island? Maybe he meant they only have money for passage off the island?_

"Mito, could you at least check what I've done so far. I think Ruby helped me out a ton with my math." Gon cut Mito out of her thoughts.

"Did she now?" Mito smiled. "Well, it looks like I owe her a thank-you when that group stops by to say their goodbyes tomorrow."

Meanwhile, as Sojiro's group made their way out into the forest for a remote place to train, Kinpatsu spoke up to the old man. "A shame that we were too late." He noted.

"Indeed," Sojiro sighed sadly, "we...can't do anything for the dead, only prepare for the next battle to make sure that doesn't happen again."

"An entire country…" Izuku shook his head in disbelief. "They took down an entire country...Japan...and Clover Kingdom were almost the same…"

"I just can't believe how easy they made it look." Weiss muttered. "Nearly every developed nation has a military, doesn't it? No matter how strong these Cultists are, they shouldn't be able to take down an entire country so quickly that the rest of the world doesn't even know what happened."

"This should give you all an even better idea of just what kind of monsters we're dealing with." Noriko grimly noted. "From what I read from the textbooks, it was the same last time they were active, right Grandmaster?"

Sojiro nodded. "Like I've said, they're locusts. They swarm and devour everything in sight until there's nothing left. Unfortunately, we just have to accept the sad reality that in some cases...we'll be too late to do anything."

Izuku clenched his fists. Sojiro smiled sadly at Izuku. "You probably hate hearing that the most, huh?" He noted. "I'm sorry, Izuku."

"Don't feel like you have to apologize to me, Sir." Izuku shook his head. "I guess...I'm just trying to understand what it is that drives people to commit genocide on the entire universe. It's...nearly unforgivable when people commit genocide on a race or ethnicity. But the entire universe?"

"I know, lad." Sojiro nodded. "Listen, when we wrap up our business here...I'll tell you all the truth. I'll tell you everything about the Cult and what they're planning to do. I promise."

Elsewhere, a lone boy with snow white hair was calming walking through the quiet streets in a town on the mainland, chatting away on a cellphone. "So, you will actually be there, right?" He said into the phone. "Dock 17, 6 AM, sharp. Don't think I didn't watch your speech to the Hunters Association during the election. You better not be up late at night doing _that_ you gross perv."

The boy took a moment to listen to the other man's response. "I wouldn't have to say that kind of stuff if you weren't doing that kind of stuff, idiot. You _admitted_ to doing it, too."

The boy then chuckled. "Well, all the same, it'll be great to see you both again. Kurapika's coming as well, right?"

He listened to the man on the other end's response. "Ah, so that's a definite yes from our old, scarlet-eyed pal." He smiled upon hearing the response. "That's good, after all that business with the Phantom Troupe, I was starting to worry he'd want nothing to do with us any longer, you know?"

The boy then noticed a few men crowding in front of him. He narrowed his eyes. "Hey, listen, I've gotta hang up now." He said. "There's some folks who seem a bit too interested in me."

"Don't worry," the boy smirked at the phone after hearing the response to that statement, "you should know by now a bunch of thugs can't do a thing to me. You just focus on getting to the docks at 6 tomorrow, got it?"

The boy chuckled at the man's irritated response. "Yeah, yeah," he brushed him off, "I'll see you and Kurapika then, Leorio."

The boy then hung up. "So, gentlemen, anything I can help you with?"

"Don't you think you're a little young to be wandering the streets alone at this hour, little boy?" A brutish thug at the front of the gang-clearly the leader-responded.

The boy shrugged. "I don't really think age is much of an issue in my case. To me, weaklings shouldn't wander the streets at night, alone or in a group."

The boy then gave the gang a cocky smirk. "It's you lot that shouldn't be wandering the streets at this hour." He claimed.

"You little…" The leader snarled.

"Anyway, I'm amazed thugs like you are actually walking around like this, when apparently the world's slowly coming to an end, what with everything that has happened to Begerosse." The boy continued. "Don't tell me you're actually taking advantage of this."

"A little danger never stopped us." The leader claimed. "And besides, a fit kid like you...you'll fetch a nice price where we're taking you."

"Oh? Human traffickers, huh?" This caught the boy's interest. "You want to know a secret? I'm an assassin. And frankly, your lot disgust me."

"Ha! An assassin, you? Yeah, maybe you play pretend, little boy."

The boy chuckled. "Well, let it be known I tried to warn you idiots." He mused. "But, just for the record, you're the ones who tried to pick a fight with the member of the Zoldyck Family."

The boy's fingernails extended until they became claws. His eyes became filled with bloodlust. Each member of the gang turned white with fear. They all knew the name Zoldyck. They were a family of assassins. This kid...oh God, they really picked a fight with the wrong kid. But it was too late.

Killua Zoldyck vanished from sight before reappearing behind the traffickers. He then calmly dropped five still-beating hearts to the floor. The thugs all gasped, feeling the holes in their chests. They all turned to look over at Killua in fear before they all collapsed one by one.

Killua sighed. His bloodlust vanished as his mannerisms returned to that of a relaxed and playful boy. "Sheesh," he said," I really didn't want to kill anyone today. Well, at least it was just a bunch of human traffickers...nobody's going to miss guys like them."

Killua then continued walking through town. "I need to focus on what's important."

"Gon, I'll be there soon." He promised, intent on staying at Whale Island for one reason and one reason only.

To look after his best friend in this coming time of crisis that had even his grandfather and father concerned.

Meanwhile, in Begerosse, a new team of Hunters was sent to investigate the cause of the Begerosse Union suddenly proverbially going dark. With the disappearance of the Crime Hunters team that had been sent in earlier, it was clear that this was a far more dangerous situation than the Hunters Association had originally believed.

So this time, they sent in War Hunters, Hunters who specifically dealt with matters of war. These War Hunters would discover who exactly had declared war on the Begerosse Union, and then they would figure out who the Hunters Association should support, or if they should simply remain neutral. They would find the perpetrators of this act of war.

At least, that was the plan. What they never expected was for the perpetrators to come straight to them.

The team of War Hunters froze in place as they watched a bald, dark-skinned man with strange markings on his face like tally marks, wearing a black, hooded cloak, calmly striding towards them, flanked by three individuals concealing their identities with similar black cloaks.

"Identify yourselves!" The leader demanded.

This made the dark-skinned man scoff. "Don't make demands of me, trash. You have no right to do so."

Before the leader could yell at the leader once more, the dark-skinned man continued to speak. "No, do not speak." He said. "Simply die...in the name of our god."

And with that, the man vanished via Vanishing Walk. In an instant, the War Hunters found themselves gaping in shock as they felt parts of their body separate from them. The Dark-skinned man reappeared behind them, holding out his hands. There was no blood, no indication that his hands had ripped into the War Hunters, even though it seemed so obvious that they were the culprits. In fact, there was barely any blood from the injuries of the War Hunters. It was as though the parts of their bodies simply vanished from existence…

And with that, the War Hunters began to collapse, one by one, killed by this mysterious man's devastating attack.

"Amazing as always, Cardinal." The cloaked individual in the middle complimented.

"Their only use is nourishing our god with their tragic ends and the emotions they feel as their lives come to a close." The dark-skinned man responded. "Beyond that, they are just rats. Rats that tried to hitch a ride on the ship to salvation, but must now be drowned."

"As poetic as always, Cardinal." The one to the right complimented.

"Waste not your time flattering me, you fools." The Cardinal told them. "Spend your time planning out your next acts of servitude to our god. Or do you intend to deny him his nourishment? I will have to deny you your lives if that is the case."

"Of...of course not, Sir." The one on the left assured him.

"Good, then tell the Acolytes and Deacons to scatter, to begin their attacks on the rest of this rat-infested world." The Cardinal ordered.

"Aye, Cardinal." With that, the Cardinal of Denial's Bishop Triad vanished from sight.

"As for you," the Cardinal continued, pointing the palm of his hand outwards, "I must ask that you not spy on me. It is quite rude. Such a sin...is punishable by death."

With that, the Cardinal thrusted his palm forward. A figure moved out from the shadows. Behind where the figure had been before, a hole suddenly appeared in the walls of a ruined building. There was no debris from the blast. Like the pieces of the dead Hunters' bodies, it was like the parts of the wall that had been destroyed were simply erased from existence.

A gruff man with a scruffy beard and a dirty, cap heaved a sigh at being found out. "Ah damn," he complained, "and here I thought I was doing such a great job hiding…"

"Rats cannot hide from me." The Cardinal claimed. "I will...deny all those who deny my god. For their deaths will bring him nourishment."

Ging Freecss, the father of Gon Freecss, heaved a sigh. "Well, I guess it is better this way." He acknowledged. "I've got questions...questions I can only find answers by asking you directly."

"And the thing is...when something piques my interest, I don't give up on it." Ging smirked. "So, let's begin the questioning, crazy bastard."

 **A.N: Right off the bat, we've got a fight between Ging Freecss, arguably one of the strongest characters in Hunter x Hunter and the Cardinal of Denial.**

 **Beyond that, this was actually one of the most wholesome chapters I've written in a while. Ruby being a big sister to Gon. Izuku being a sweet boy by helping Mito cook, and by seeing Ruby's distress and quietly comforting her through it all to avoid any embarrassment during dinner. I absolutely love the way I'm handling these characters, especially the RWBY ones (if you know me, you know of my current gripes with canon RWBY, so you definitely know I like how I'm handling the RWBY cast so far).**

 **I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, where we're building up to something that's pretty big. See you all next time! Stay safe and healthy!**


	22. Chapter 22: Peace Denied

**A.N: You know what I love? When things go from zero to a hundred in an instant? You'll know what I mean soon enough...**

 **Chapter 21: Peace Denied**

"First question, what is your name?" Ging Freecss asked the Cardinal of Denial standing before him. "You may be able to pull that macho 'the dead don't get to know my name' attitude with those War Hunters, but you'll find that I'm not so easy to kill."

The Cardinal of Denial waved his arm vertically at Ging. Ging narrowed his eyes and leapt to the side, much to the shock of the Cardinal's Bishop Triad. They watched as a small fissure was suddenly created from the Cardinal erasing part of the ground from existence.

"I don't know what the hell kind of power that is, but it's terrifying." Ging acknowledged to himself.

"He dodged the Cardinal's attack?" One of the Cardinal of Denial's Bishop Triad said in surprise. "Can he see the Cardinals' Erasure?"

"No, that's not possible." Another responded. "Even those with Reiki find themselves hard pressed to see the Cardinal's techniques. It takes someone with tremendous sensory abilities to see the Erasure technique. The only one I've ever seen with the skill to sense it is the Archbishop and the other Cardinals."

"What, not gonna answer my question?" Ging asked the Cardinal. "Come on, buddy, work with me here. I'd much rather know the name of my opponent so I know who's name to say when I tell 'em they're going down."

"Amusing," the Cardinal of Denial said before falling silent for a brief moment.

He then spoke up and Ging smiled at what he said next. "My name is Kyoya. I am designated as the Cardinal of Denial. My sole purpose in life is to deny life to all who deny my god." Kyoya properly introduced himself.

"Normally, I'm pretty respectful of other peoples' religions, but I think yours deserves an exception." Ging responded. "Still, it's been years since the world's seen a religion whose idea of being 'faithful' is to commit genocide. So, you've certainly piqued my interest."

"There's also the fact that what you're using against me is clearly not Nen." Ging added with a glare. "Just what the hell are you people, eh Kyoya?"

"We...are nothing." Kyoya responded. "Nothing but tools in service to our god. Do we feel things such as joy? Sadness? Anger? No. There is nothing but our servitude to our god."

"Now that just sounds like a sad existence." Ging admitted. "But, it fits. You not only deny people their lives, but you deny yourself everything except this purpose of yours. You're empty. Nothing but a puppet dancing on lonely strings. A true Cardinal of Denial, whatever the hell that is."

"A little advice, Kyoya." Ging continued. "If you define yourself by only your goals and desires, what you hope to achieve at the end of whatever journey this is, you'll find yourself lacking. You'll really be as empty as you claim to be and you'll have no one to blame but yourself. You should try to enjoy the little things. That which makes the journey that is life so enjoyable."

"And what do you have, Hunter?" Kyoya inquired curiously.

"Well, I've got a son." Ging responded with a shrug. "I'm not much of a father, but I'm glad he's a part of my life in some way. And frankly, I've been all around most of the known world, and I've enjoyed every moment of it."

"You want to be some depressing, empty shell of a man because you think it brings you closer to whatever god this is, fine with me, Kyoya." Ging told him. "But leave the rest of the world out of it. Because most people don't desire to be as empty as you. Most people don't want to be denied the joys and even the sorrows that life brings. Because that's what it means to be alive!"

"Die." Kyoya responded simply, throwing his palm forward, making Ging dodge instinctively.

Ging looked over his shoulder and saw a hole appear in one of the ruined buildings. _No debris or dust, or anything along those lines appears when areas are destroyed by this guy's attacks._ Ging noted. _It's as though...his attacks just erase everything in its path from existence._

Ging's eyes briefly glanced over at the dead War Hunters. He looked at how they had been eliminated in a bloodless carnage. No blood, no indication of any wounds. It was as though parts of them and their organs had been erased from existence. Not only that, but parts of their limbs had fallen off, as though what had held their limbs together had been erased as well.

 _And I know that every time he moves his hands as though he's attacking, something gets erased as a result. That means this attack originates from his hands._ Ging quickly deduced.

Kyoya seemingly prepared another attack, only for Ging to react first this time. _If hand movements are the key to reading his attacks, then the solution is simple. I'll just attack him first and stun him out of his movements!_

Ging punched downwards, emitting his aura from his arm and into the ground. Suddenly, a wormhole appeared beneath Kyoya. Kyoya barely reacted as a fist emerged from the ground, stretching tremendously and striking him in the face. Ging did not let up. He punched the same spot repeatedly, and multiple fists emerged from that same wormhole in rapid-fire succession, striking Kyoya repeatedly.

"Cardinal Kyoya!" One of the Bishops yelled in concern for their master.

Kyoya remained impassive. Much like his fellow Cardinal, Shido, he was finding a legitimate challenge in the form of a powerful foe. However, unlike Shido, who had been suffering from a boring and unfulfilled life until he met All Might on the battlefield, Kyoya suffered from no such illnesses.

He was a perfectly emotionless being, fully dedicated to wiping out his enemies. To better conduct his duties, he had denied himself of everything that made a man. Pleasure, joy, sorrow, all of it. The only thing that mattered was conducting his duty as a Cardinal of the Cult of the End.

This was what every day was like for Kyoya, Cardinal of Denial. It was the only life he ever knew. But more importantly, as far as he was concerned, it was the only kind of life he ever needed in this universe that would soon be cleansed.

Kyoya swiped his hand downwards, which caused Ging to retract his fist from the wormhole. Kyoya then swiped his other hand outwards towards the spot Ging was on. Ging quickly attempted to pull away, reflexively opening his hand. He looked down and gasped. He was not fast enough.

The fingers on his left hand were gone. Kyoya's attack was supposed to erase most of him from existence, but thankfully, he had managed to at least avoid most of the attack. If only his poor fingers had been so lucky.

Ging then looked over his shoulder and saw a ruined building he could take cover behind. He quickly leapt into the ruins, covering himself from sight. Kyoya scowled, raising his arms. "You cannot hide from me." He told him. "I will erase you from existence."

Ging smirked from behind the wall. _A fight against someone like this will bring nothing but a stalemate. I need to retreat and report on what's happening here to the Hunter's Association. Pariston will love this. A psychotic religious cult attempting to commit genocide. My one regret is that I couldn't figure out what the hell these guys were._

 _But I can tell this much: what they're using is not Nen. Which means either the Dark Continent has some sort of ability that even Chairman Netero knew nothing about, or these guys aren't from this world._

Ging then planted his hands on the ruined wall. He grimaced at the sight of the missing fingers on his left hand. _Note to self, a visit to Biscuit is in order. Hopefully she can heal up my fingers, even though they've been erased like this. If she can't, I'll just go back into Greed Island and grab an Angel's Breath card. Shouldn't be too hard._

Then, Ging fired two phasing bullets that passed through the wall, shocking Kyoya and his Bishop Triad. Before Kyoya could respond, he was struck by the phasing bullets. Ging smirked. He had the opening he needed now to retreat from Kyoya. And so, he ran as fast as his legs could carry him while powered by Nen.

Kyoya's eyes widened at Ging's final move. Ging's actions had finally managed to get some sort of reaction out of him. By the time he managed to recover from Ging's phasing bullets, the famed Hunter had already managed to escape.

"Damn him." Kyoya regained his composure and simply settled for snarling at Ging's final actions.

"Bishop Kyoya, are you alright?" He was then joined by his Triad.

Kyoya shook his head. "He got away." He said. "He was not supposed to get away."

"He was far craftier than we expected." One by one, the Bishop Triad of Denial began to lower their cloaks, revealing their faces. The one that had just spoken was a bespectacled, purple-eyed woman with back-length pink hair. She was known as Aina.

"Cardinal Kyoya, perhaps we should've aided you in his death?" The second of the Bishops was a young man with white hair and a haggard face and dark blue eyes. The kind of face that suggested a man had not slept in days and was not properly taking care of himself. He was known as Yukimura. "We wouldn't have to chase after him if we had all fought at once."

"Cease your arrogance, Yukimura!" The third of the Bishops snapped. He looked far older than both Aina and Yukimura. His long, shoulder-length black hair was greasy and slicked back and his black beard scruffy. He glared at Yukimura with piercing red eyes. He was Rokuro, one of the eldest of all the Bishops. "Cardinal Kyoya was more than capable of handling the matter on his own. The fact that man fled proves that Cardinal Kyoya was superior!"

"I think you're missing the point here, Rokuro." Yukimura said with a sigh, rubbing the back of his head. "No matter how much stronger Cardinal Kyoya is, the fact that Hunter managed to escape means that Cardinal Kyoya...well, he failed."

Rokuro glared at Yukimura while Aina adjusted her glasses. "Well, I must thank you, Cardinal Kyoya." She said to her superior. "Every time we challenge one of these Nen Users to combat, I gain invaluable data. Very soon, I think I will be able to pierce through this aura they use to protect themselves.

"Good," Kyoya nodded, ignoring the argument between Rokuro and Yukimura, "then we are gaining something of value."

"That being said," Kyoya continued, "Yukimura is correct about one thing. My strength means nothing. That man, Ging Freecss, managed to escape me."

"Cardinal Kyoya…" Rokuro muttered.

"I want you all to spread out and try and find him. Make him suffer for making a mockery of our duty." Kyoya ordered. "Do not lament your failure if you do not find him. In the end, I should've simply had you three aid me. I will not deny that the failure to kill Ging Freecss is my own."

"Afterwards, scatter our forces across this world. It is time we expanded our efforts."

"Yes, Cardinal Kyoya." The Bishop Triad of Denial said in unison before they disappeared with Vanishing Walk, attempting to track down Ging.

Kyoya hummed thoughtfully as he surveyed his body, taking note that there were no permanent injuries from his fight with Ging. "Still, his attacks were rather impressive." Kyoya acknowledged. "Trash may still be trash, but that was one who was worth keeping an eye on. It is now more important than ever that his life is denied and offered to our god."

"Someone like him must not be allowed to become a threat to our grand vision in the near future." Kyoya vowed. "He will be hunted to the ends of this world if necessary."

"But until we find him, I cannot afford to be sidetracked." Kyoya continued. "This continent has fallen. There is no way around it. It is now time we devote our efforts to other parts of this world."

Kyoya then thought back to the map of this world he and his subordinates had taken a look at before beginning their assault. "The Dark Continent," he muttered to himself, "a very dangerous place, if the rumors are to be believed."

"I, however, will not allow such stories to deter me." Kyoya vowed. "If there is life, then it must be exterminated. The negativity that comes from death will be used as nourishment."

"All in the name of our god."

Elsewhere, day began to break. It was bright and early in the morning for the proverbial "landing party", led by Grandmaster Sojiro. And there was only one thing they could do to spend their morning before finding some sort of breakfast. Spar.

Ruby Rose yelled as she circled around Yami Sukehiro in her Petal Burst form, quickly returning to her physical form to strike at Yami with Crescent Rose. Yami easily blocked and parried each of Ruby's strikes, smirking all the way through as he continued to gauge just how powerful Ruby actually was.

 _At her peak, she's actually as fast as Asta. But Asta has the advantage in raw physical strength._ Yami noted. _Still, using speed to dodge and counter quickly is a valid strategy. But if those Bishops and that Cardinal were of any indication, speed's no longer going to cut it for her. She needs power to back up her speed now._

Yami briefly glanced over at Sojiro, wondering if the old man had the same thoughts as him. He noticed that Sojiro's gaze was currently focused on Ruby. Yami smirked at the old man's gaze. _Yeah, he's definitely got the same idea as I do._

Sojiro's eyes then drifted over to Izuku Midoriya, who was currently locked in a fierce duel with Yang Xiao Long. Both were pushing their powers to the max. Yang's Semblance, Burn, was actually matching One For All at 20%. Thankfully, Yang was not attempting to blast Izuku with Ember Celica's shotgun shells and was just trying to match him blow for blow physically.

Sojiro nodded in satisfaction. It was just as he suspected. With every blow Izuku's One For All landed on Yang, Yang grew stronger. And as a result, Yang would continue to push back against Izuku and allow him to slowly and subconsciously tap into more and more of One For All's power.

 _The question now is,_ Sojiro continued, _How much can we expect Izuku to be able to tap into One For All. It's certainly unreasonable to get him to 100% right off the bat. But if I can figure out how long I can get him to...say, the next multiple of ten, that can give me a better idea of how long we can expect him to reach 100 under my tutelage._

 _And that just leaves Asta,_ Sojiro now turned to see Asta in a sparring match with Kinpatsu. Kinpatsu had a big grin on his face as he used Taiyomaru to easily repel Asta's assaults, even in his "Black Asta" form.

 _Physically, Asta's undoubtedly the strongest of these three children. I would love to know what kind of training he had done when he was younger. Because it allowed him to become one of the strongest fighters in his own kingdom._ Sojiro noted.

 _Still, Asta's greatest strengths are only strengths in his own world._ Sojiro grimly added. _His Anti-Magic is useless against Reiki. Which means I can only imagine that it's probably useless against Ruby's Aura and whatever exists in Gon's world...if anything like that does exist for that matter. That means, all he has to fall back on is his physical strength, and unlike his world, the other worlds do put some sort of effort on mixing their abilities with physical prowess. No matter how strong Asta is, fighting with only half of what he can do puts him at a disadvantage on principle alone._

 _From what Yami explained to me, Grimoires grow and add pages in moments of personal growth. The question now is what will stimulate Asta and make him and his grimoire grow?_

Finally, Noelle Silva was in the midst of blitzing Weiss Schnee through her Valkyrie Dress. Weiss, for her part, was practically helpless. She had been trying to use her summons and glyphs to even the odds, but Noelle's incredible strength and speed while clad in her dress made her simply insurmountable to Weiss at the moment. It was actually stunning in Weiss' eyes.

Weiss prided herself on her combat style for its speed and elegance. And here was Noelle, in her 'Valkyrie Dress', dancing in battle with all the grace and elegance she had ever dreamed of. It was simply spectacular.

Weiss then created a glyph in defense as Noelle propelled herself forward. Her aquatic lance smashed right through Weiss' glyph, slamming into the former Schnee Heiress in the process. Weiss yelled as the lance smashed the rest of her Aura like glass, sending her flying into a nearby tree.

Noelle immediately turned off her Valkyrie Dress when she saw that Weiss was not getting right back up. "Are you alright, Weiss?" She ran over to Weiss. "I didn't hurt you too badly did I?"

Weiss groaned, slowly gaining back her strength. She then smiled up at Noelle. "No, I'm fine." She said before smiling. "Noelle, that was amazing! I can't believe how strong you are. You could actually be a match for just about any Huntsman with that kind of power and speed."

This made Noelle take a step back in shock. A smile curled slightly. For most of her life, up until the Black Bulls took her in, not a single person ever had anything kind to say to her. Especially about her prowess in battle. And here was Weiss just outright telling her how amazing her fighting was. It was...pretty cool, actually.

"Umm, thanks." Noelle said, helping Weiss to her feet. "But, you shouldn't sell yourself short, Weiss. If I wasn't royalty, I don't know if my magic could beat you and your glyphs."

Sojiro noticed that Weiss and Noelle had finished up their sparring match and decided to call it there. "Okay, that's enough everyone!" He yelled before turning to Noriko, who was standing next to him, watching the whole thing. "Noriko, please treat any immediate injuries."

Noriko nodded and began to address each duo one by one. She first looked over Izuku and Yang, and much to her surprise, found no major injuries on any of them. "I'm impressed, you two," she admitted, "all those punches and no actual injuries."

"Ha, my Aura's damn tough." Yang bragged proudly. "Though I definitely was more on edge than I thought. Green's punches and kicks are something else."

Izuku rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, but you hit pretty hard too, Yang. If I hadn't spent so long playing a defensive game while trying to make my Quirk my own, I don't think I'd have had the instincts to avoid your punches."

Noriko then addressed Ruby and Yami. "No major injuries on you two either." She noted.

Ruby grumbled in frustration. "That's because Captain Yami kept blocking all my attacks." She pouted.

Yami glared comically over the girl, grabbing her by the head and lifting her up. "You can't possibly have wanted me to actually just stand there and take it, right kid?" He asked in a low, threatening tone of voice.

"No, no sir!" Ruby squeaked in fear.

Noriko nodded in satisfaction and addressed Kinpatsu and Asta. Kinpatsu, not surprisingly, looked completely unharmed. For a man who was at such a small fraction of his power thanks to the loss of his dominant arm and one of his eyes, he held Asta at bay easily.

Asta, on the other hand…

"I'm fine," he said with gritted teeth, "I'm totally fine…"

And then he fell forward, flat on his face. "Asta!" Ruby, Izuku and Noelle yelled in concern.

Sojiro heaved a sigh at the sight. "I thought as much." He noted. "It seems that blackened form of yours saps your stamina to practically zero."

"Ugh, well, I've gotten better at it." Asta claimed, as Noriko went to work treating him. "It's just that Kinpatsu wore me down so much."

Sojiro nodded. "And I hope you realize how much of a double-edged sword your abilities are with this, Asta." He told the young man.

"They are?" Asta asked.

"Asta, you've relied on incredible strength and stamina to compensate for your lack of magic." Sojiro explained. "And while this makes you an incredible threat in your world, other worlds are vastly different. I hate to tell you this, but you and everyone else in your world are big fish in a very small pond."

"Sheesh, be more harsher why don't ya." Yami frowned, sheathing his katana and putting Ruby down. The adorable reaper rubbing her forehead and whimpering.

"The reality is that most of you are far too simple with your fighting styles. No, it's more like you're far too specialized as fighters." Sojiro claimed. "Asta is the ultimate anti-mage fighter, but not necessarily an 'anti-anything else' fighter. His swords couldn't cut through Reiki, so I assume it'd be the same with Aura."

"As for those who use magic, I could tell this much, they spend so much time perfecting their magic most don't perfect their bodies. Even Julius suffers from this." Sojiro continued. "I think the only exceptions to this rule...are you Black Bulls and the Vermillion Siblings. Whether it's Yami employing his katana, Noelle's incredible Valkyrie Dress, you are all diamonds in a rather unique rough."

"Th-thank you, sir." Noelle blushed. More high praise. She really was not used to this.

"But don't rest on your laurels. By comparison, there is a world much like yours that uses magic." Sojiro revealed. "And frankly, that world is far stronger than yours."

"Asta," Sojiro gave him a smile, "don't be ashamed of this. All this means is that you have more to work on to grow as a Magic Knight, a warrior, and as a man. And I know you're up to the challenge."

"Of course I am, Grandmaster!" Asta yelled with glee.

"Then with you, we need to focus on two aspects, covering up your weakness in fighting non-magic users and seeing if we can expand the scope of your Anti-Magic abilities." Sojiro explained. "Now, if what I understand about magic in your world is true, it grows with you as you mature."

"So, we simply need to broaden your horizons as an individual. In other words, mental training to help you expand your mind." Sojiro revealed. "This is similar to training a friend of mine underwent a long time ago. He traveled to a sacred mountaintop. And once he returned, his abilities had increased a hundredfold because he had gained a true appreciation for life and death. Of course, this was due to his unique abilities. A training exercise like that would only work for two other people I know of."

"And from there, we can continue improving your swordsmanship as well. You rely on power, but not a lot of technique. Kinpatsu, can I count on you to help Asta employ a bit more technique in his swordsmanship?"

"I ain't much of a teacher, but I'll try my best." Kinpatsu shrugged. "Still though, his swords are designed for power, not technique. So if it fails, don't be surprised."

"Understood, learning is all about experimentation, after all." Sojiro noted. "We must be willing to try things that won't necessarily work and then adjust accordingly."

"Now then, let's move on," Sojiro turned to Izuku and Yang, "you two were splendid."

"Oh, thanks!" Yang grinned.

"That's very high praise from someone like you, Grandmaster." Izuku bowed his head.

"Yang," Sojiro turned his attention to the punchy blonde brawler, "your Semblance, Burn, is incredible. The ability to turn damage into added strength isn't to be underestimated."

"Whoa, so it's like a power meter in a video game!" Izuku squealed giddily. "That's amazing!"

"However, and I think you know this by now," Sojiro glanced at Yang's prosthetic arm, "you still take damage and your Aura still depletes with each hit."

Yang nodded, her face falling for a moment. "Now, if Semblances are like any other 'superpower' across the universe," Sojiro continued, "that means you can grow and evolve your Semblance. Into what, I honestly don't know yet. For all we know, the true power of Burn could actually be accumulating power over time in a fight, not just from damage, but just the heat of battle in general."

"Some power meters do build up over time." Izuku noted.

"We should work on evolving your Semblance." Sojiro suggested. "Until then, I want you to try and fight smarter, not harder. Know when to avoid a hit, and know when to take it to build up your power. Don't let your flame grow out of control, control your flame instead."

"I've got a suggestion as well if anyone wants to hear it." Asta was now sitting up, much to everyone's surprise.

"You do?" Noelle raised an eyebrow.

"Yang, a long time ago, my friends and I fought this guy. His name was Vetto." Asta explained, making Noelle grimace. She certainly remembered that fight. "Vetto was insanely strong, thanks to his magic enhancing his physical abilities. But he had a big weakness that I only realized after the fight."

"He spent so much time being physically enhanced by his magic, he forgot what his actual limits were." Asta revealed. "And so when I stabbed him with one of my swords, it drained him of his power and left him defenseless."

"So what?" Yang asked.

Asta grinned. "Try training without your Aura and your Semblance and build up a baseline. That way, you don't have to rely so much on taking hits to build up your power. I could lend you my workout regimen if you'd like."

Yang was taken aback by the offer before she smiled. "That's pretty generous of ya, Asta." She said before adding with a chuckle. "But still, I don't know what a squirt like you could do for training that I can't."

"You say that now, Yang." Noelle groaned while Asta's face fell at Yang's joke.

"Now, Izuku," Izuku listened intently, instinctively taking out a notepad to listen to what the good grandmaster had to say to him. Wait, where did he even get that notepad?

"How much of One For All did you say you could use?" Sojiro asked curiously. "20% correct?"

Izuku nodded. "And you are also capable of manifesting six other Quirks?" Sojiro added.

"Well, actually, only one right now." Izuku admitted. "And it's only when I'm using 20%."

"Hmm, I wonder if you'll manifest the other five Quirks as we build up your limits with One For All." Sojiro mused. "Well, regardless, our focus is perfecting your main Quirk. One For All, we'll deal with the other Quirks as they come."

Izuku nodded. "We'll start small though. We'll see how long it takes for you to reach 30%, and that'll give us an idea of how long it'll be before you reach 100%."

"And then I'll have fully mastered One For All." Izuku muttered in awe.

Sojiro laughed. "Nonsense, Izuku," he said, "after we reach 100%, I want to see if we can go even further than that."

"Further?!" Izuku exclaimed in disbelief.

"If memory serves me correctly, the whole point of One For All is to grow with each user." Sojiro pointed out. "So let's use this as an opportunity to further improve One For All. Let's see if we can take it to 200%, 300% or even a 1,000% if we wished for it."

"Not real percentages, but I do see the point." Yami noted. "You're basically asking Green to keep pushing past his limits. And I like that."

Izuku thought it over. "I...suppose it is possible," he acknowledged, "because you're right, Sir. The whole point of One For All is its ability to grow even stronger as a Quirk."

"But...let's focus on getting it to a hundred first, okay?" He sheepishly requested.

Sojiro nodded with a smile. "One step at a time, Izuku." He promised. "That's what it means to learn and grow. Even the greatest scholars were not instant geniuses. Never forget that."

Sojiro then looked at Ruby. His face then contorted into a grimace. "Ruby," he said to her, "were you truly journeying to try and stop Salem and her associates?"

"Yeah, why?" Ruby asked, a bit concerned by Sojiro's look.

Sojiro sighed. "Ruby, please don't take this the wrong way, but do you realize how lucky you are to have gotten as far as you have?" He asked.

Ruby was taken aback by this. "What? R-really?"

Sojiro shook his head. "Don't get me wrong, you're very strong and talented. You certainly earned your right to fight and become the Huntress you wish to be."

"However, let me ask you something," Sojiro folded his arms, "you've clashed with Salem's subordinates several times since your journey, correct?"

Ruby nodded. Sojiro then looked at Weiss and Yang. "Pay attention, you two, this goes for you two as well. I'll have to work this lesson in, with Blake, Jaune, Nora and Ren as well." He explained.

"Ruby," Sojiro turned back to Ruby, "of the times you've encountered Salem's subordinates, how many of them were actually won by you, rather than circumstances?"

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked.

"Well, it's one thing to win on your own strength and merits." Sojiro explained. "However, it's quite another when circumstances win the fight for you. So please, tell me everything about your previous encounters with Salem's forces."

Ruby thought it over. "Well," she said, "when Beacon fell, a criminal who was hired by one of Salem's top goons almost killed me. He was eaten by a Grimm. I...got to that same goon as soon as she killed a friend of mine…and honestly, if my powers hadn't suddenly flared out of control, she would've killed me too."

Sojiro remained silent, letting Ruby explain herself. "Then, while on the way to Mistral, this guy Tyrian almost killed Jaune, Nora, Ren and myself. We only survived because Uncle Qrow saved us. We drove him off after I cut off his tail, but he also poisoned Uncle Qrow and almost killed him."

"And finally," Ruby took a deep breath, "we had a big fight at Haven Academy. We drove them off...but only because the one who killed my friend, Cinder Fall, was defeated and killed...by Yang's birth mom, Raven Branwen. Cinder seems to be crucial to their plans, so they retreated afterwards. Though...we were really getting beaten back by the others who were helping her. We landed some good hits in, sure, but…"

"So," Sojiro heaved a sigh, "it seems you've been relying on good fortune to survive. In other words, circumstances have won you most of your fights."

"Really?"

Sojiro nodded. "I'm afraid so," he said, "Ruby, I'm sure you realize this, but you cannot always rely on luck and good fortune to win you fights."

Ruby nodded. "Of course I realize that." She promised. "I want to be stronger, Grandmaster. I really do. I...I wanna be a great Huntress and help save lives, just like my mom did."

"An admirable dream, and at least you know that it's one you cannot accomplish without strength." Sojiro nodded.

"Ruby, it's one thing to know when you're lucky to have survived. Even the strongest fighters have to rely on luck occasionally. However, I feel I need to tell you this since this seems to happen to you quite a bit." Sojiro began.

"If you continue to win and survive based on nothing more than luck and decent circumstances and don't realize those are what have helped you survive, fair warning, you will grow arrogant."

"Not Ruby, Grandmaster." Yang shook her head. "That's not her at all."

Sojiro sighed. "I know, but many good men and women across the universe have fallen to darkness because of their own arrogance. And plenty grew arrogant because of an undeserved sense of accomplishment. Also a sense of right and wrong and justice, but that's a completely different story."

"Ruby," Sojiro continued, "I want you to experience a true feeling of accomplishment."

"A...true feeling of accomplishment?"

"The kind that only comes when you win based on your own merits alone, and not because fate decided to hand you the victory." Sojiro explained before gesturing to Izuku and Asta. "What do you see when you look at them?"

"I see two really great guys." Ruby shrugged.

"I see two young men who failed and stumbled a lot on their paths." Sojiro revealed. "I can tell that much just by looking at them. Asta grew up without magic and Izuku was forced to learn how to use the strongest Quirk in existence. There is no doubt in my mind they've failed and struggled."

"Ruby, do not be afraid of failure, do not be afraid of struggling, and do not be afraid of being wrong. Use all of that to grow and then win with your own strength."

"Don't be afraid of being wrong, huh?" Ruby repeated, thinking to herself.

Sojiro nodded before smiling. "That of course will happen as you continue to fight. The point is, use every mistake you make as a chance to grow, don't just dismiss them, no matter the circumstances. If you stumble, pick yourself back up and figure out why you fell. If you're wrong, chastise yourself, even if you think you're right. Because struggles make us better, not worse."

"And now, let's talk about how you can get on that path." Sojiro told her.

"Eh? We're still not done!" Ruby flailed her arms dramatically.

Sojiro laughed. "No, no, we're now going to talk about how I think you can grow as a warrior as far as combat abilities go."

"First, take heart, I think your Semblance, Petal Burst, is quite impressive. While it's nowhere near the speed I've seen from many of my best students back home, you should be proud of how fast you are. My world is simply...on a completely different level."

Ruby nodded in understanding. "However, it's far too simple. You speed around, attack with Crescent Rose, speed around some more. Occasionally you kick up windstorms and clone yourself in petal form. But...I just can't help but feel like you could do even more."

"Really?"

"Ruby, have you considered perhaps partial transformations?" Sojiro asked curiously. "Like, perhaps you could transform only parts of your body to speed up punches and kicks and increase the force of your attacks?"

"I never really thought of that." Ruby admitted.

"As I told Yang, if Semblances are anything like any other 'superpower' across the universe, they can evolve. So anything is worth attempting." Sojiro noted. "Oftentimes, the limits of our special abilities are our own imagination, so if there's anything you think you could do with your power, attempt to replicate it."

"Next, I want you to also examine your Silver Eyes and the power that comes within." Sojiro explained. "At the moment, you can...basically shoot laser beams. But have you and Maria considered that there could be more than just that?"

"Well, no, we're kinda just learning the basics." Ruby explained.

"Nothing wrong with that, I'm just always curious if there's more." Sojiro replied. "Anyway, we need to consider if there's more to the power of Silver Eyes than simply those beams of light. If they come as a result of a desire to preserve life, they must be able to do more. Much like your Semblance, the limit could very well be your own imagination."

Ruby then remembered something Maria had told her. "There was something else, Grandmaster." She said. "Maria told me they only activate in the presence of Grimm. So...how did it activate in that Cardinal's presence?"

Sojiro hummed at this. "The only explanation I have is that your power is evolving...or perhaps even Maria's own information on the power of Silver Eyes is incomplete." He explained. "Either way, this, like your Semblance, could be an amazing weapon. So we must train it."

Ruby smiled eagerly. "Yes sir!" She really could not wait to really get started now.

"Yami, Noelle," Sojiro addressed the other two wizards, "I honestly don't have much to say to either of you. Your powers are quite impressive already. All I have to say is keep pushing the limits of your magic. I believe there is something known as Mana Zone? See if you can tap into that."

Yami and Noelle both nodded. "Oi, you brats." Yami addressed the otherworld kids. "Mind if I also make a suggestion?"

"Sure, Captain Yami." Izuku nodded while Ruby, Weiss and Yang did the same.

"You all should consider learning Ki." Yami suggested.

"Ki?" Izuku had heard of the concept, but did not expect to hear of it from someone from another world.

"You...mean like the energy that the characters in the comic Dragon Gem X?" Yang deadpanned while Ruby had stars in her eyes at the very thought of it. "Look, I liked Gaku growing up, but I don't want to be _like him_. For one thing, his hair sucks."

"Uh...yeah, sure let's go with that." Yami shrugged. "Anyway, Ki's actually something that exists separate from Mana in my world. It's a natural energy given off by people and even objects when they move. It's how I was capable of keeping up with Ruby's attacks so easily."

"Basically, with proper training, you can use Ki-sensing to predict attacks and enemy movements." Yami explained. "If you all learned it, you'd push past your limits easily."

"That's so cool!" Ruby and Izuku squealed in unison.

"It does sound pretty useful." Weiss noted to Yang, who nodded in agreement.

"That's a brilliant suggestion, thank you, Yami." Sojiro smiled before turning to Weiss. "And that just leaves you, Weiss."

"Yes Sir," Weiss stood at attention, ready to receive her lesson as well.

"I must admit, you're truly impressive." Sojiro told her.

"Thank you, Sir." Weiss nodded. "I have received training from excellent instructors...and I've had the benefit of having wonderful teammates and friends who've helped me improve as well."

"Aww, thanks Weiss-Cream." Yang grinned.

"Yeah, thanks Bestie!" Ruby added.

"It shows. And you have an incredible Semblance with a wide variety of uses. Glyphs with different effects depending on the Dust you use and the ability to summon enemies defeated in the past."

"Which is why I want you to now expand on your repertoire." Sojiro explained.

"Expand? But you said it already has a wide variety of uses." Weiss pointed out.

"I did say that." Sojiro acknowledged. "But I also said it's bad to rest on your laurels. Weiss, considering how advanced the technique is, I'm going to guess you only recently mastered summoning, correct?"

Weiss nodded, amazed at how quickly Sojiro figured her out. Sojiro smiled gently. "That must've felt like a wonderful accomplishment." He noted. "However, you have the talent to accomplish even more than that. You all do."

"So continue to expand your repertoire. Create new types of glyphs. Don't be afraid to experiment. Defeat other types of foes and summon them. In fact, even see if you can summon more than just sentient life forms. Consider creating other kinds of weapons, even armor like Noelle's Valkyrie Dress."

"If your power is as versatile as it is, Weiss, then you owe it to yourself to think of every possible way to further expand it." Sojiro told her.

"That makes perfect sense, thank you." Weiss nodded.

"And while we're on the subject, grow your stamina. Ruby and Yang can last in a fight much longer than you can." Sojiro noted. "All of this can't be easy on your body and your energy, so work on that."

"You are correct, thank you, Sir." Weiss said once more.

"And finally, before we close this lesson, I have one final lesson for Ruby, Yang and Weiss." Sojiro told them. "This will be a lesson I hope to one day repeat to the others from your world."

Ruby, Yang and Weiss listened intently. "I want you to consider naming special attacks in battle." Sojiro revealed.

All three girls almost fell over in surprise. "What?" Weiss looked at Sojiro like he was crazy. "You want us to do what?"

"You heard me," Sojiro smiled, "consider naming a special attack if you've got them."

"...I mean, we do name some of our team attacks." Ruby tried to find logic in the idea.

"Please don't normalize this, Sis." Yang sighed. "So, what? You want us to name our techniques like Shogo does?"

"Oh goodness, no, nothing like Shogo." Sojiro laughed. "Truth be told, everyone in my world names our special techniques, as do many other warriors from other worlds. Many worlds seem to follow an interesting cultural belief centered around a concept known as kotodama."

"Koto-what now?" Ruby was now very confused.

"Kotodama," Sojiro repeated, "it's an ancient belief that goes by different names and different cultures across the universe that follow a very similar belief: the belief that mystical powers dwell in words and names. The notion of kotodama presupposes that sounds can magically affect objects, and that ritual word usages can influence our environment, body, mind, and soul. It's why many martial artists shout when fighting."

"So, theoretically, by applying the idea of kotodama, chanting a word while using a special technique should give it more power."

"Er...with all due respect, Grandmaster, that all sounds like a bunch of hooey." Yang responded.

Sojiro laughed. "It certainly does, but think of it like the placebo effect. If you believe that the words you shout while using an attack give it more power, then it will do so. If you think it's ridiculous, then you don't have to apply it. However, if you wish to try it, all I ask is that you truly believe that the concept actually works."

"I'll consider it!" Ruby excitedly told Sojiro.

Weiss and Yang just sighed. Sojiro just laughed. "Well, if that's everything, I think we can call this training a success."

And then someone close by could no longer contain his scream of excitement. "SO COOL!" They all heard. "THAT WAS ALL SO COOL!"

"What the…" Noriko spoke off before noticing a young boy fall from the trees.

"GON?!" Everyone present yelled in shock, looking at the sheepish Gon Freecss.

Gon laughed nervously. "Umm...hi?" He said to them. "Er...sorry for spying on you."

Sojiro folded his arms. "Gon," he said, "why were you spying on us?"

Inwardly, Sojiro was panicking somewhat. _If he saw everything, then we've been found out earlier than we should have. Then again, perhaps we could use this as an opportunity to ask who we need to speak with to warn them about the Cult's attack._

"Umm...yeah, sorry." Gon rubbed the back of his head. "I didn't mean to…"

"How do you not mean to spy on someone?" Noelle asked, not believing that for a minute.

"Well, see, I wanted to get some early-morning fishing done." Gon explained. "I do that a lot, it's a morning tradition for me."

Gon then kicked the tree he had been in and allowed a bunch of fish he had caught to fall to the ground. "I caught a bunch of fish." Gon revealed.

"And then, on my way back, my nose caught the scent of sweat, and a lot of it."

The girls all blushed in embarrassment while Izuku and Asta immediately sniffed themselves on instinct. "Er, my sense of smell has always been really good." Gon explained.

"That goes way beyond just really good, kid." Yami pointed out. "That sense of smell is freakish."

"That amount of perspiration only comes from a lot of training," Gon explained, "so I realized you guys were training, so I came here. You were all so deep in training, I didn't want to interrupt. So, I disguised my presence like I do when I'm hunting."

Sojiro's eyes widened. _I really have gotten old! I didn't even sense him! His stealth is incredible if he's able to disguise his presence so well!_

"Anyway, something's got me really curious." Gon said. "You were all using abilities I could see, even though I don't have Nen anymore. And you were talking about stuff like Quirks, Semblances, Magic, Ki, and all that other stuff."

This made everyone freeze in horror. Gon most likely had figured them out. "So, I was thinking," Gon continued, "are you all...from a different world?"

Ten faces went pale in unison. Sojiro then sighed. "I guess there's no reason to hide it anymore. Yes, Gon, we are from a different world...well, different worlds."

Gon's eyes widened. "Whoa, really?" He asked.

"Yes," Sojiro nodded, "you figured it out, why are you still shocked?"

"Well, I had only just guessed, honestly." Gon said. "And it was a pretty wild guess. The kind of guess my best friend Killua would get on my case for."

"...So you weren't being serious?" Yami deadpanned.

"Er...yes and no." Gon shrugged.

"Well, you got it out of us. We're all from different worlds." Sojiro revealed. "If you wish to hear the truth Gon, I suggest you sit down. This is a very long and rather extraordinary tale."

"Sure, I'll listen." Gon eagerly sat cross-legged.

And so, Sojiro told Gon everything. Who he was, where he came from, what his mission was, and how he met everyone else. Ruby, Izuku and Asta spoke up on occasion, adding their parts of the story to back up Sojiro's parts. Gon, surprisingly, listened intently with a look of wonder on his face.

And then, when Sojiro finally finished up, Gon just smiled and nodded. "Okay, Grandmaster, I believe you."

"Really?" Sojiro was surprised.

 _I guess I shouldn't underestimate childlike wonder._ Sojiro noted.

"Yeah, honestly, I figured you guys were from elsewhere as soon as I saw you use those weird powers." He explained. "In this world, Nen is the big power."

"Nen?" Sojiro raised an eyebrow.

"Nen," Gon nodded, "it is a technique that allows a living being to use and manipulate their own life energy. We call that life energy 'Aura.'"

Ruby's eyes widened. "For real? You guys use Aura too?"

Gon nodded. "Anyway," Gon spoke up, "if you guys are looking for allies to help you guys fight against these Cult guys, you need to go to the Hunter Association. It's filled with really strong people, and if they're informed that there's a threat to the entire world, they'll have to take action like they did when the Chimera Ants were a big threat."

"Chimera Ants...okay, you know what, nevermind, I'm done questioning this." Yang groaned.

"There are good people at the Hunter Association. They'd be willing to help you." Gon gave them all a reassuring smile. "And if I could still fight, I'd love to help you guys as well."

Sojiro raised an eyebrow. "Still fight? What's that supposed to mean, Gon?" He asked curiously.

Gon's face fell, much to the surprise of everyone present. After their previous day with Gon, they had thought nothing could wipe that innocent smile off his face. Boy were they wrong. "I...was once a Hunter. Well, technically I still am, I still have my license." Gon sighed. "But...I lost the ability to use Nen after...well, something really bad happened."

"Gon…" Ruby, Izuku and Asta looked at Gon in sympathy. None of them could imagine losing their power. It was part of who they were, after all.

"Well, if you really lack the ability to use Nen now, then I can't allow you to fight with us, Gon." Sojiro told him. "These people we're going up against...they'd be unlike anything you've ever fought before. They'll kill you without a second thought."

"That kind of stuff just makes me want to do it more...you've got me curious now." Gon pointed out. "And...I just can't stand the thought of being weak and being a loser compared to people like the ones you just described."

"Understandable, but this is reality for you, Gon." Sojiro firmly told him. "I'm sorry, I appreciate your heart, but it would only get you killed right now."

Gon had to nod in agreement at that. "I know…" he said sadly.

Sojiro smiled kindly and rubbed Gon's hair affectionately. Gon's frown then turned upside down as he smiled back. "Hey, could I at least take you guys to the Hunter Association?" He suggested. "I know a lot of people there, so if I came along to back you up, they'd be more willing to hear you out, right?"

Sojiro frowned slightly. He really did not want to put another child in possible danger like that. Not like he already had with Team RWBY, Izuku, Asta and everyone else under 18 he had brought along thus far.

Kinpatsu then spoke up, noticing the old man's hesitation. "Grandmaster, it may be for the best to let him guide us to this Hunter Association." He offered. "We need a guide, and we can't just march into a place like that claiming some genocidal cult is trying to destroy them. Without someone they know backing up our claims, we'll be laughed out of the damn building."

Sojiro sighed. "You do bring up a good point, Kinpatsu." He acknowledged.

Sojiro then smiled at Gon. "Let's talk to your Aunt Mito first." He said. "If she tells you that you can come with us, you can guide us to the Hunter Association."

Gon nodded eagerly. "If she doesn't, I'll try to get you in contact with a friend of mine." He said. "I'm sure Leorio or Killua will help you once I explain everything. Even Kurapika if I could actually get him to respond to my calls."

Sojiro nodded in understanding. "We very much appreciate your help, Gon." He told him, ruffling the kid's hair once more.

"Yeah, if we can get help from the strongest people in this world, we'd definitely get quite the boost in fighting prowess." Ruby pointed out.

Gon then turned around. "Okay then, let's go see Aunt Mito, and…"

In an instant, all hell broke loose…

Explosions suddenly rang out all across Whale Island. Black smoke immediately poured into the sky from the many blasts. "What the hell?!" Yang yelled in shock.

Yami's eyes widened. "I didn't sense any hostile Ki! They must've disguised their presence like Gon did!"

Noriko, Kinpatsu and Sojiro quickly tapped into their sensory abilities. "Reiki signatures all over the island!" Noriko yelled in horror. "No doubt about it, they have to be Cultists."

"That makes no sense," Kinpatsu growled, "why the hell would so many Cultists come to an out-of-the-way island such as this!"

Sojiro's eyes widened. "No...they didn't come this way because they sensed us, did they? Did a few of them pick out our Reiki and now all of them have converged on our location?"

"Oh Gods," Noriko moaned in terror, "they...they came to this island because of us?"

"Aunt Mito!" Gon immediately started running in the direction of one cloud of black smoke. A look of utter terror on his face. That blast was close to his home.

"Gon! Wait!" Sojiro yelled in concern, running after him.

"Grandmaster!" Noriko yelled after the old man.

"Don't worry about us, just go and help the people of Whale Island!" Sojiro yelled.

With that, Sojiro was gone. Kinpatsu narrowed his eyes and nodded, immediately taking charge. "Okay," he said, "there were a lot of different locations where explosions rang out. Probably some small neighborhoods and of course the market area near the harbor. We'll have to spread out, and…"

"Where are Ruby, Asta and Izuku?" Weiss suddenly asked.

Kinpatsu looked around and saw that those three had already run off. "Seriously?" Kinpatsu gasped. "Those three can't have possibly run off without a plan could they?"

"Damn it, Ruby, you just have to play hero now of all times?" Yang groaned.

"Damn Stupidsta!" Noelle added.

"We'll just have to trust they're heading to the fight." Yami said. "With all the explosions, they're attacking from practically every direction."

"Then that's what we have to do as well." Kinpatsu noted. "Spread out, everyone, if we want to protect the people of Whale Island, we need to respond with our own multi-front assault."

"We'll repay the people of Whale Island for their kindness." Weiss claimed.

"This is Gon's home, so we'll protect it with everything we've got!" Noelle declared.

"I've been waiting for another chance to punch these jackasses into oblivion." Yang smirked. "So let's bring 'em all down!"

"Then fight with everything you've got, push past your limits and win against these guys!" Yami declared. "Make 'em all pay for thinking they could attack this island."

"Noriko, you and I are heading to the marketplace, that's probably got the biggest concentration of people they're attacking. So, we need your medical expertise to help all of them." Kinpatsu told her.

"Understood." Noriko nodded, ready to help out.

"Okay, spread out and stay alive!" Kinpatsu yelled as the group did just that.

All across Whale Island, chaos reigned across different residential areas close to the marketplace. Bodies were already lined across one particular residential area. A ruthless, looking man with sharp teeth like a shark's and spiky blonde hair laughed as he dropped the charred corpse of a man he had just killed. "What a joke," he said, "Tetsuichi tells us that he senses the Reiki of our targets on this rinky-dink island, and suddenly seven teams of Acolytes, including my own have to drop everything and come here?"

"Ugh, it makes no damn sense." He complained. "If they are trying to find allies, why would they come to a place like this?"

His attention was then drawn to fleeing people from the neighborhood. "Well, if we're here, might as well get something of use out of this." He said as golden electricity danced across his hands. "Now, let's hear these little piggies squeal."

Electricity then danced across the cultist's entire body. "Squeal, piggies, squeal!" He yelled. "Squeal while I cook you into well done bacon!"

"Now, Static-"

"Yahoo!" The cultist looked up to see a golden speck rocketing down towards him. The speck then became a woman, who was cocking her fist back to bring him down with a mighty haymaker.

The Cultist instinctively dodged the attack, much to his annoyance. _What a pain, can't believe I got scared on instinct like that._

He then got a good look at Yang Xiao Long and smirked, particularly at the girl's impressive cleavage. "What, are you gonna attack me with your tits, blondie?" He taunted.

Yang scowled at the Cultist's taunts. "Pay too much attention to the girls and you're liable to get a bunch of shotgun shells to the mouth, Shark-Boy." She taunted right back.

"Shark-Boy?" The cultist took note of his teeth and snarled at Yang. "My name is Seiji. High-Voltage Seiji, the mighty Deacon of the Cult of the End."

"I dodged your last attack on instinct, Blondie." Seiji told Yang. "But you won't be able to do a damn thing to me now!"

Meanwhile, a citizen of Whale Island whimpered and pleaded for her life as a man with teal colored hair and dark blue eyeliner stood over her, pointing a finger-shaped gun at her head. Meanwhile, other citizens fled in fear. "Too bad for you, it seems everyone has forsaken you, darling." He taunted before blasting high-pressure water from his finger right through her forehead, killing her instantly.

"My, my," he then opened both his hands and pointed them at the fleeing citizens, "you are all just cruel. You're all going to die anyway, so you might as well die with your so-called pride as humans in-tact and not abandon your fellow man and woman like you just did."

Water began to gather in the man's palms. "Alright, Geyser Cannon!" He yelled. "Drown or be smashed to pieces, let's see what happens to you first!"

Suddenly, several glyphs appeared in front of the fleeing citizens, stopping the attacker's Geyser Cannon with ease. "Hmm...a defensive barrier of some sort?"

Weiss Schnee stepped in front of her glyphs. "Everyone, keep running!" Weiss yelled to the fleeing citizens. "Just keep running until you are far away from all the explosions and fights."

"She's fast to have created a defensive wall of...whatever those are as quickly as she did." The water-user noted before casually pointing another finger gun at her. "Well, she stepped in front of her defensive wall. Not a smart move on her part."

The water-user fired another burst of high-pressure water at Weiss. "Water Creation Magic: Sea Dragon's Lair!" Suddenly a dome of water appeared around Weiss, protecting her from the blast.

"What?" The water-user gasped.

"Weiss," Noelle Silva spoke up, revealing her presence from within the Sea Dragon's Lair, "you let your guard down. You knew that he was here, and yet you took your eyes off him."

"I had no reason to worry," Weiss turned to Noelle, "I knew you'd be right there to watch my back, Noelle."

Noelle sighed. "Yes, I suppose that's true."

"Two of you, huh?" The water-user frowned slightly before smirking. "I suppose things can't be _too_ easy for the mighty Deacon Yoshikawa."

"A Deacon?" Weiss was immediately put on guard.

"Are they dangerous?" Noelle asked.

"They're basically squad-leaders who command the footsoldiers, the Acolytes." Weiss explained. "So, yeah, they're pretty strong."

Noelle smiled. "Well, we're working as a team, so I think we can pull it off."

"I was about to say the same." Weiss smiled back.

Elsewhere, Yami Sukehiro was already upon an extremely thin man with back length white hair with red eyeliner. Two katanas clashed together. "Well, you are eager to get started, huh?" The long-haired cultist said to Yami.

"What, you expect me to give some big speech and tell you how you won't beat me?" Yami grinned. "Sorry pal, but I'd much rather just slice you to pieces."

Wind suddenly began twirling around the Cultist. "I'll wipe that confident grin on your face, you brute."

In another part of Whale Island, several citizens screamed in terror as they were lifted into the air by what seemed to be giant sentient vines. "Useless, escape is simply useless before my power." A lanky man, bone-thin man with black hair and green eyeliner. "For I am Deacon Moriboshi, King of the Forest."

Moriboshi then tightened his grip. "Now, be squeezed into a bloody paste, you insects."

Suddenly, a new arrival roared into view, figuratively and literally. Asta tried to cut through the vines, only to discover that indeed, his Anti-Magic swords could indeed not cut through Reiki-based attacks. "The edges become blunt when used against anything non-magic." Asta remembered in frustration. "That means I can't cut those people free."

Asta turned his attention to Moriboshi. "Guess that means I'll just have to go right for the source!"

Asta leapt at Moriboshi, who gazed dispassionately at Asta. "So that's the no-magic Magic Knight that Cardinal Yakuma took an interest in."

"Frankly, I don't see the issue." Vines suddenly sprouted from the ground and wrapped around Asta, stopping him in his tracks.

Asta glared at Moriboshi and easily ripped himself free. "Let those people go, now!" He demanded. "Your fight's with me now!"

Moriboshi scowled. "...Nevermind, you're annoying."

Elsewhere in yet another residential area, Whale Island citizens screamed in fear as flames fell from the sky. "We have to get out of here!" One yelled as the flames exploded behind them.

"Get out of here? To where though." A woman with orange hair and bright red eyes looked at them all run in confusion. "You idiots. There's nowhere to run, certainly not from my flames."

"Now burn to nothingness!" She yelled. "Meteor Jab!"

The woman punched several times, shooting fireballs from her fists that were sent towards the fleeing citizens. However, one heroic boy was not going to let them die. "One For All 20%!" Izuku Midoriya bravely leapt between the citizens and the woman's Meteor Jab. "Detroit Smash!"

Izuku punched forward, releasing a blast of high pressure air that managed to put a stop to the woman's Meteor Jab. She looked at the boy in surprise. "A kid like you cancelled out my attack?" She then smirked. "Oh I see, you must be someone special, right?"

Izuku kept his guard up. "Let's see, ridiculous green costume, a powerful super-strength based ability...you must be Deku. Or would you prefer I call you Izuku Midoriya." The woman grinned. "The name's Enko, I'm a Deacon. Though once I've charred you like firewood, I think I'll be promoted to Cardinal."

"Too bad, Cardinal Shido, looks like I get your prize!"

Elsewhere, a woman with neon-green hair just laughed, surrounded by small balls of light and nearly an entire residential area worth of corpses. "Looks like the top score goes to me, everyone." She claimed. "Of course, that's no surprise. Once I've lit up the area, there's no escape for anyone."

"Speaking of, if you want to run away little girl, now's your chance." The woman turned as Ruby Rose revealed herself, holding two little children she had barely managed to save.

The woman raised an eyebrow at Ruby's action. _She was fast enough to not only get past my fireflies, but also save two children? This might actually be interesting. Well, I didn't actually catch her presence until after she entered my range though, so maybe I'm overthinking things just a little..._

Ruby looked down at the children. "Hey you two," she said with a reassuring smile, "get as far away from here as you can. I'll be fine, just go."

The children nodded and ran from Ruby's arms into the forest. Ruby looked around at the corpses created by her opponent. She took a deep breath, a brief flash of silver in her eyes. "I won't bother asking you to justify yourself." She said. "By now, I understand exactly how you people work. And frankly, I hate it. Nothing's going to change that."

"I'm taking you down." Ruby threatened with an uncharacteristically ruthless gaze in her eyes.

This made Ms. Neon-Green laugh in delight. "Someone's getting a little cocky," she noted, "but don't worry, sweetie, Hotaru will be more than happy to show you the light!"

"Bring it!" Ruby yelled back, readying Crescent Rose.

And thus, the battle for Whale Island's survival began...

 **A.N: Zero to a hundred, baby. Zero. To. A Hundred. We get a nice training piece where Sojiro outlines his plans to improve everyone present (and me dropping some actual knowledge about the concept of kotodama). Then boom! People are attacking Whale Island because they picked up Sojiro's group's presence. And Kyoya, the Cardinal of Denial was strong enough to make Ging retreat (mainly because Ging didn't want a stalemate, but still).**

 **So yeah, a lot of crazy stuff happened. I'm definitely trying to get into the home stretch of this prologue. To everyone who thinks I've taken too long with this prologue, I honestly agree, I just wanted to try something different. Next time I do a story with a "prologue" piece, I'll probably try to find a middle-ground between FWW and WoD. Hopefully I can get this done before I hit Chapter 30. I can certainly see it ending that way.**

 **Hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. I'll see you all next time.**


	23. Chapter 23: The Battle For Whale Island

**A.N: New chapter, folks. We'll be seeing a fight-heavy chapter as our heroes struggle to survive and protect Whale Island.**

 **Chapter 22: Battle For Whale Island**

At the docks of Whale Island, Sojiro's group had won an early victory. In the span of a few minutes, Kinpatsu was standing over a small mountain of defeated and deceased Acolytes. Taiyomaru was hefted atop his shoulder. Noriko, for her part, could not help but gaze at Kinpatsu in a sense of awe. _Kinpatsu's presence boosts our fighting strength exponentially._ She acknowledged. _Even though the Grandmaster is the one with the name and the prestige...as his nurse I cannot deny it, he has become quite weak._

 _So Sir Kinpatsu's presence is welcome._ Noriko noted. _We struggled against a few Acolytes back in Ruby's world, but with him, Acolytes aren't a big threat to us anymore._

 _Still...we still have several other ranked members of the Cult to worry about. Deacons, Bishops, Cardinals, that Matriarch, and the one who commands all of them._ Noriko added before heaving a sigh. _I guess...we'll just have to take things as they go, right?_

"Okay," Kinpatsu spoke up, "I think we've secured the docks. Let's hurry back to the rest of our group and give them some aid."

Noriko raised an eyebrow, surprised at Kinpatsu's stamina. "You're something," she complimented, "you being here definitely gives me a bit more comfort fighting these people."

Kinpatsu hummed at this. "I suppose I'll take that as a compliment." He said, confusing Noriko.

"As strong as I am, you need to put your faith in those who can continue to grow as warriors." Kinpatsu pointed out. "I understand that as a medic, you need to think a bit more realistically than others, but I believe faith and logic both have a place in the field of medicine."

Noriko was taken aback by this for a moment before scowling. "Whatever you say, Kinpatsu." She said.

"Do you disagree?" Kinpatsu asked.

"I am here for one reason and one reason only, to help people with my medical skills." Noriko claimed. "I...don't have the warrior's spirit or faith or whatever you want to call it. Just a desire to preserve life with my healing powers. To be honest, I despise the foolish war games that warriors play. It was why I wanted to be a medic instead of a soldier. And it was why I volunteered to act as the Grandmaster's personal nurse. I wanted a quiet job to ease a good man's pain as he passes on. Not just be a part of some war machine. And instead...I end up here."

Kinpatsu fell silent for a moment before smiling. "I won't ask you to explain yourself to me. But however you feel...please remember that there is more to being a warrior than just war."

Kinpatsu then gasped, sensing a particularly ruthless presence coming close to him. "Be on guard, Noriko!" He yelled to the nurse. "Someone else is here, and he's not like the rest!"

Noriko was wondering just who Kinpatsu was referring to, until a familiar black suit of armor suddenly landed in front of her and Kinpatsu. Her eyes widened in horror. "You can't be serious!" She yelled in shock. "He's still alive?"

The Black Knight stood before Kinpatsu and Noriko. "Kill...all of you…" The Black Knight muttered in a demonic tone of voice.

"Noriko...go to the others, I can handle this guy on my own." Kinpatsu told them. "You're the medic, so I trust you to be able to figure out who needs the most help at the moment. You do your duty and I'll do mine."

Noriko nodded, taking one last look at the Black Knight. Her eyes widened when he noticed that he was gazing particularly at her with some sort of strange interest. _Why me?_ She wondered. _I'm no fighter. Why would he be interested in me?_

"Go, Noriko!" Kinpatsu ordered.

"Er...right!" Noriko began to flee.

 _I don't know what that...thing's deal is, but if anyone can put him down for good, it would be Kinpatsu._ She thought. _I'll just focus on what I can do for now. The question now is...how will their fights go? Everyone, be careful!_

Elsewhere, Yang Xiao Long gave a smirk, cocking Ember Celica in preparation to strike out at Seiji, the Deacon she was currently face to face with. Seiji's fang-like grin reared its ugly hid as he showed it off to Yang in all its splendor.

"Before we begin, I'd like to make something clear to you, just so you know just how doomed you are, Blondie." Seiji told her. "I've never been wounded once in a fight. Not a single foe has been able to touch me!"

Yang responded by firing several shotgun shells from Ember Celica. "First time for everything, right jackass?" She responded.

Seiji just laughed. "Not in this case there isn't!" He claimed as electricity began to appear around his body. "Static Discharge!"

With that, electricity exploded from Seiji's body in a 50 foot radius. Yang watched in surprise as the electricity blasted her shotgun shells into nothingness. "See? My Art is the ultimate offense and defense." Seiji claimed. "It's got the destructive force that man knew and feared in ancient times, but it also acts as a barrier to all attacks. It all comes down to the best offense being a strong defense, you get me?"

Yang scowled. "Well, that Art sucks." She said bluntly. "But, if I get inside your defense, that means I can punch you without any problem, right?"

Seiji laughed. "You think it's that simple? Go ahead, show me how simple you think it is!" He declared.

Yang took the bait and rocketed towards Seiji with Ember Celica's help. She then threw a punch with her left arm that Seiji just smirked at. Then, much to Yang's shock, static electricity sprang up out of nowhere, striking her in the arm. Yang screamed in pain as the static electricity coursed through her arm to the rest of her body. The force of the blast pushed her away from Seiji.

Seiji's smug smirk seemed to grow at the sight of Yang's failure. "Moron," he taunted, "this is the true strength of Static. It is my defense: Current Barrier."

"What the hell…" Yang muttered, getting to her feet. "That static busted right through my Aura?"

"That's what static electricity is, ya dumb blonde." Seiji taunted. "Science lesson, and pay attention, 'cause I'm only going to say it once!"

"Static electricity is an imbalance of electric charges within or on the surface of a material." Seiji explained. "The charge remains until it is able to move away by means of an electric current or electrical discharge."

"I'm constantly charged up with static electricity." Seiji revealed. "In other words, no matter how many times you try and attack me, my Current Barrier will just stop you dead in your tracks and blast you with hundreds...no thousands of volts of electricity."

"A punchy brawler like you actually thought you stood a chance?" Seiji looked amused at the thought. "What a laugh! You were doomed the minute you had the misfortune of taking me as your enemy! I'm your worst nightmare, blondie!"

"So your Art is amplified static electricity." Yang summarized.

Yang then got to her feet. "Well, nothing ventured, nothing gained." She smirked. "I let myself falter before and it was the biggest mistake I've made in years. I won't make that mistake again."

"It's Seiji, right?" Yang continued. "Okay, Seiji, let me make something clear to you."

"I'm going to beat that stupid barrier of yours." Yang promised. "I've worked too hard to get back to my little sister's side to lose to a prick like you!"

Seiji grinned. "Guess I fried your brain with that last blast." He noted. "Most people would run away when they realize attacking their enemy isn't going to work, you fool!"

Seiji then stomped downwards. "Static Wave!" He yelled, stomping the ground in front of him and shooting a wave of static electricity that tore across the ground towards Yang.

Yang rocketed above the Static Wave with Ember Celica. She fired off several shotgun shells once more, aimed directly at Seiji. "Like I already showed you, that's not going to work on me!" Seiji yelled. "Static Discharge!"

Another wave of static electricity exploded outwards, destroying the shotgun shells once more. Yang rocketed towards Seiji with the use of her right arm as the Static Discharge began to dissipate. _Let's see if there's a delay between his offense and defense._ Yang decided.

Yang threw a punch with her left arm once more, only for Seiji to smirk and strike back at Yang with his Current Barrier once more. Yang yelled in pain as she was blasted away once more by Seiji's powerful static electricity.

"Offense, defense, I have both at the ready." Seiji claimed. "Carve this into your memories: you cannot possibly harm me. You can't defeat me."

Yang's hair flickered with flames, a sign that the damage she was sustaining was starting to power her up. She scowled in frustration. _That doesn't mean much if I can't even hit the bastard!_ She complained. _I'll just waste the energy I'm accumulating._

 _And what's more, I can't even hope to defend myself and power up._ She continued. _His Static Discharge busts right through my Aura and damages me. His power really is an incredible mix of offense and defense._

 _Guess I'm just going to have to experiment to figure this guy out!_ She decided before smashing her hands into the ground and ripping out several jagged pieces of earth and tossing them upwards towards Seiji.

Seiji narrowed his eyes slightly, preparing to use Static Discharge once more to avoid being struck by the upended ground. Then, much to his surprise, Yang fired several shotgun shells from Ember Celica that struck the pieces of ground she had tossed into the air. Seiji gasped as the pieces of earth were destroyed, creating debris and dust that blinded him for a moment.

 _Damn it, she's trying to blind me so that I can't use my Static._ Seiji frowned before smirking. _She's an idiot, I have no problem keeping Static Discharge up as long as possible before she gets the message that she can't attack!_

Seiji's Static Discharge suddenly appeared, stopping Yang before she could attack him, making her frown. _Seriously?_ She complained. _I was really hoping that blinding him would keep him from using his Art._

Yang looked at the dome of static electricity that surrounded Seiji in a barrier. _How long can he even keep this up?_ Yang wondered, watching him keep up the barrier as a safety measure. She frowned at the sight. _What a coward. It's no wonder he's never been hit before. Dude keeps up his defenses to a completely paranoid level._

The Static Discharge then flickered off like lights, making Yang's eyes widen in surprise. She had a look on her face that looked like she was asking: "Did I really just see that?"

Seiji sputtered at this, losing his perpetually smug face and replacing it with a bit of a nervous one. "Oh, so you can't keep it up forever, huh?" Yang deadpanned before rocketing towards him. "What, you need batteries or something?!"

Seiji stepped backwards and avoided Yang's punches as the punchy blonde landed in front of him. Seiji slowly regained his composure and laughed. "Moron!" He taunted. "Even if I do need to recharge my Static on occasion, it doesn't matter. You can't hit me!"

"I'm sure you were pretty damn fast and strong in your world, against your opponents. But against Watchers like me, you're nothing! This is what happens when big fish like you swim out of your small little ponds. You get devoured by sharks in the ocean!"

"Oh by the way, you really should've waited to see how long it takes for me to recharge my Static, Blondie!" Seiji told her. "That little mistake is going to cost you!

Suddenly, as a punch from Yang's left arm got close enough to the point where she believed she was about to connect, Seiji's Current Barrier formed around him once more. Yang screamed in pain as she was struck by powerful static electricity once more. Once again, it was blasting right through her Aura.

"Now then, I think I will go on the offensive now!" Seiji decided before holding out the palm of his hand.

Static electricity gathered in his palm. "Discharge Thrust!" Seiji yelled, striking Yang in the stomach with a palm filled with electricity, blasting Yang off her feet and away from the Cultist.

Yang landed on her back. Seiji folded his arms. "I told you, there's nothing you can do to me. I've never been hit. And a girl like you, who's only talent is punching things. You can't beat me! It's that simple!"

Yang groaned slightly, forcing herself to her feet, making Seiji laugh. "And still you get up." He taunted. "I think you should just lay down and get fried already. It would make things so much easier for the both of us."

 _I really can't punch him, no matter what I do._ Yang realized. _He's a smug bastard, but he knows how to use that power of his._

" _Fight smarter, not harder."_ Sojiro had told her.

 _Know when to take a hit and know when to avoid one. I've got all this power, but I've got no way of hitting him._ Yang complained. _Damn it, why did static electricity have to get so brutal all of a sudden! I liked it better when it was just Ruby rubbing her feet on the carpet, building up the static and then shocking me._

"Do you have nothing left to say to me, Blondie?" Seiji continued to taunt. "If that's the case, then let's end this. I'm honestly starting to get bored here."

" _Fight smarter, not harder."_ Sojiro's words rang out in Yang's head once more.

 _Well, smart at this point would be to run away._ Yang acknowledged. _If I can't punch him, I need to go and get someone who can, right?_

Yang knew that was not a viable option at all. _Screw that, I haven't lived my life to run away from my problems like I did after Beacon fell. I became a Huntress to live every day as if it were my last and to help people, like Ruby wants to help people._

 _In the end, it's just like the Grandmaster said. The fight may have changed, but the mission hasn't. That's why I'm here, and that's how it's going to be. Screw being smart and retreating. If everything I've been through hasn't beaten me down yet, neither will this fanged jackass._

" _Fight smarter, not harder."_ Sojiro's words rang out in Yang's head a third time.

Yang smirked. _Besides, staying in the fight doesn't make me an idiot, it's staying in the fight without a plan that makes me an idiot. If this guy really was invincible, he'd be the big boss. That means he's got some sort of weakness that I just haven't found yet._

 _Wait...if his power is centered around static...doesn't that mean the actual rules about static electricity apply here?_

"Hey, come on, Blondie." Seiji growled. "Just because I want to end this, doesn't mean you can be rude and ignore me. I'd much rather you try and talk yourself into thinking you can still win. It makes crushing that hope a lot more fun, ya know."

"Sorry, Fangs, but if anyone's hope is getting crushed it's going to be yours." Yang promised. "I intend to snatch this victory right out from under your nose."

Seiji scowled before stomping onto the ground. "We'll see about that, you damn bimbo! Take this, Static Wave!" He yelled, sending out a wave of static electricity towards Yang once more.

Yang dodged the Static Wave as her hair suddenly burst into flames. It was time for her to burn with power and passion. _The hell is she planning?_ Seiji wondered. _Her power's shooting up right now…_

 _Bah, it really doesn't matter. She can't hit me. My Current Barrier will just stop whatever punch she throws at me in its tracks and she'll take the damage instead. I've got this match in the bag!_ Seiji declared inwardly.

Yang then rocketed towards Seiji with Ember Celica's aid once more. Seiji just laughed at this. "It's not going to work, dumbass, but by all means, try anyway! It'll just make things easier for me, after all!"

Yang then smirked and threw a powerful right hook. "Current Barrier!" Seiji yelled as his body was surrounded by a barrier of static electricity.

 _I'll even charge up my Current Barrier with a bit more power._ Seiji grinned. _If this doesn't kill you, my next attack will. But this will leave you on the brink of death. Enjoy the pain, Blondie!_

Then, much to Seiji's shock, Yang's right hook went right through his barrier and punched him square in the jaw. Seiji yelled in shock and pain as blood flew from his mouth and nose. Yang then fired off a shotgun shell right into Seiji's face, blasting him far away from her. Yang could not help the smirk in satisfaction at the sight. She was really starting to hate him.

"GYAGH!" Seiji yelled, rolling around in pain. "WHAT THE HELL?! IT HURTS! IT HURTS SO BADLY! SHE...SHE ACTUALLY HURT ME!"

"Well, what do you know." Yang smirked. "It looks like I'm the first person to actually land a hit on you, jackass."

"I don't understand." Seiji muttered, now staring at Yang in fear, his confidence completely shattered. "How did you do it? How did you manage to hit me?!"

"You don't know much about static and conductors for electricity, huh?" Yang smirked, advancing on him. "Well, how about this for a lesson, you punk."

Yang held up her right arm, revealing the prosthetic limb at the end of it. Seiji's eyes widened. "Some metals are great conductors for electricity. Some aren't." Yang explained. "And considering how prosthetic limbs are supposed to remain in working condition to replace the limbs they've lost, this one isn't a good conductor."

"In other words, my prosthetic has stopped your stupid static electricity right in its tracks." Yang declared. "You may be able to shock everything else, but as long as I'm punching your sorry face with my right arm, your Current Barrier doesn't mean a damn thing to me."

"WHAT THE HELL?!" Seiji could only scream in disbelief at his beloved power being beaten by real life science, of all things.

"You know, I actually thought you were pretty damn intimidating when I couldn't hit you, but now that I've got you bleeding like that, you look seriously lame right now." Yang held both her shotgun gauntlets behind her, ready to rocket towards Seiji and put an end to this.

"Sh-shut up! Get away from me, damn it! Don't you dare hurt me again!" Seiji screamed.

Yang smirked. She had him right where she wanted him now. She then threw a right haymaker that nailed Seiji right in the jaw. Then, she fired off a shotgun shell. Actually, she did not fire one shotgun shell. She emptied an entire magazine of shotgun shells right into Seiji's face.

Seiji let out a muffled scream of pain before being smashed into the ground by Yang's final punch. Yang just smirked victoriously as she stared down at the bloody face of Seiji. She saw his clearly shattered jaw and many, many broken teeth. He was not getting up from that blow.

"A guy who's only trick is putting up a 'near impenetrable defense' has one very crippling weakness." Yang told the unconscious Seiji. "And that's himself. You spent so much time keeping yourself from getting hit, you didn't even bother training any part of yourself."

"You take life after life, but you don't have the balls to stand and take a hit yourself." Yang scowled. "You _deserve_ to get the hell beaten out of you for both of those reasons."

At that moment, as Yang began to walk away from the beaten Seiji to try and help her friends, she swayed slightly on her feet before collapsing to her knees. "Aww man," she muttered, still feeling the aftereffects of incredibly powerful static electricity striking her repeatedly, "hopefully the Grandmaster doesn't get too pissed about me getting hurt. He says to play more defensively, but it's not like I could, when his static just punches right through my Aura."

"Still, I guess I'm starting to get what he said." Yang admitted, thinking back to those two powerful punches she had dealt right to Seiji's face. "In that moment I controlled my 'flame,' I didn't let it just burn out of control. The old me would've just kept punching at him, trying to build up enough power to just punch right through his static. But because I stayed under control...I knocked him out in two hits."

"Heh, guess I've gotten stronger." Yang smiled before wincing, feeling the aftereffects of the static electricity once more.

Yang panted before looking over her shoulder, back at the unconscious Seiji. "You bastard," she muttered, "you and all your dumb friends are going to pay for attacking all these nice islanders, and for shocking me too."

Elsewhere, Weiss Schnee and Noelle Silva stared down Deacon Yoshikawa. Noelle's grimoire floated in front of her. Weiss had Myrtenaster pointed right at him. Yoshikawa gave an amused chuckle at the sight of his two newest victims.

"So, anyway, greetings darlings." Yoshikawa said to them in a rather foppish tone of voice. "As I have said before, I am Yoshikawa. A Deacon of our faith."

Yoshikawa took a moment to sense for the Acolytes under his command. He frowned when he could not sense any of their Reiki. "I'd introduce you to my darling subordinates, but it seems they've got a case of death." Yoshikawa noted. "I suppose the three of us will simply have to play together."

"You think you can handle both of us?" Weiss demanded.

"I don't think you children appreciate the sheer number of people I've killed throughout my travels." Yoshikawa replied. "And you girls have had how many years of life? It's simple math, darlings."

"I'll give you simple math you freak," Noelle growled, "two is greater than one. And because it's Weiss and me, you're screwed."

Yoshikawa chuckled before raising his right hand into the air. "Alright then, I'll play your game." He said. "Two is greater than one. But you want to know what's even greater than two? A thousand!"

Weiss and Noelle watched in shock as several balls of water the size of tennis balls suddenly appeared, surrounding them in what was basically a dome of death. "Bullet Rain!" Yoshikawa flicked his hand forward as the balls of water were launched towards Noelle and Weiss simultaneously.

"Water Creation Magic: Sea Dragon's Lair!" Noelle quickly formed a defensive dome of water to protect her and Weiss from water bullets.

Yoshikawa scowled as his Bullet Rain projectiles were stopped easily by Noelle's defensive magic. _Unfortunately, spreading out Reiki like I do for my Bullet Rain lessens the power, so there's no way it could possibly penetrate that barrier of hers._ He admitted inwardly.

The scowl then transformed into a smirk as he formed a large lance of water. _But a concentrated piercing attack...that should do the trick. I'll take the one with more power first…_

"Piercing Hydro Lance!" Yoshikawa threw his arm forward, telepathically launching the aquatic lance forward.

Noelle gasped when she saw Yoshikawa's Piercing Hydro Lance ram into her Sea Dragon's Lair. Noelle then gasped as the lance penetrated through the barrier before rushing towards her.

"I don't think so!" Weiss yelled, stepping in front of Weiss before forming three defensive glyphs in front of them, in a line.

Yoshikawa smiled with glee as his Piercing Hydro Lance got through Weiss' first two glyphs before being stopped in its tracks on the third one. _Ah good, so I just have to break them down a little before their defenses are nothing to me._

Yoshikawa chuckled in anticipation. _Tormenting adorable things like these two...it really is the best part of my life._

"You okay, Noelle?" Weiss asked her partner for this fight.

"Yeah, thanks to you." Noelle smiled before looking at Yoshikawa. "Weiss, we can't hope to win this if all we do is defend. He'll break our defenses sooner or later as our energy wears out."

"I know," Weiss nodded, "he's definitely a tough one. Nowhere near those Bishops we ran into in our world, but he's still tough."

Noelle nodded. "I could immediately go on the offensive if I used my Valkyrie Dress. Meanwhile, you could provide support."

"That would beat him for sure, but there is something we need to consider." Weiss pointed out to Noelle.

"Oh yeah, and what's that?" Noelle asked curiously.

"If these guys really came here because they sensed our presence, how long before Bishop-level fighters show up?" Weiss asked. "Even worse, how long before a Cardinal-level fighter shows up?"

Noelle shuddered at this, remembering the hellish experience that was Yakuma's near unstoppable rampage through the capital. A rampage that was only stopped because they caught a lucky break in the form of Julius Novachrono exploiting a loophole in an otherworld seal.

"I know it may sound ridiculous, but I think if it's the two of us, as long as we work together, we can take this guy down without using our best moves." Weiss claimed with a confident smile. "We can save our 'super moves' as Yang would call them for the big boss."

"You are something else." Noelle smiled back. "You're not worried at all about whether we can beat him or not?"

"I'm not worried," Weiss shook her head, "I've got you with me, Noelle. We're more than enough."

Noelle nodded. "Yeah, you're right." She said. "Okay, let's take him down!"

Noelle dropped her Sea Dragon's Lair. Weiss, meanwhile, formed a line of glyphs between herself and her destination: Yoshikawa. Weiss then propelled herself across the glyphs with the grace of a figure skater. "Straight at me, huh?" Yoshikawa chuckled. "Usually, I love it when beauty throws itself at me. In this case though, I think I'm going to have to make an exception."

Yoshikawa then gasped as several large balls of water flew towards him, courtesy of Noelle, glaring at him. He quickly countered with balls of water of his own that cancelled out Noelle's flurry of water blasts. As Weiss neared him, however, Yoshikawa pointed a finger gun aimed right at her. He fired a blast of high-pressured water at Weiss, intent on piercing her skull with the attack.

Weiss, however, propelled herself into the air, avoiding the blast. She then created another glyph midair that she used to propel herself back towards Yoshikawa, Myrtenaster first. Yoshikawa scowled and jumped away, avoiding Weiss' downwards stab. "You're wide open!" He yelled, preparing to fire another burst of high-pressure water from his finger.

Weiss, however, countered by spinning the revolver chamber built into Myrtenaster and then swinging her rapier upwards, creating a line of fire from the blade that managed to strike Yoshikawa, knocking him further back.

"Gah!" Yoshikawa quickly brushed the flames off his body. "So she uses fire along with those strange patterns? Great, so she's a walking, talking swiss army knife. I can't stand fighting people like that."

Weiss then stabbed towards Yoshikawa once more. Yoshikawa leaned to the side and slammed his palm Weiss in the stomach. "Ugh!" Weiss grunted in pain before flying back.

Weiss' Aura, thankfully, absorbed the damage, but she still felt the strength behind Yoshikawa's blow. Yoshikawa narrowed his eyes at Weiss, viewing her as the greater threat of the two based on her versatility alone. "You can play with this instead." Yoshikawa claimed as several puddles of water appeared around him. "Dance water!"

"Aquatic Festival!" Weiss and Noelle watched as several humanoid figures formed from Yoshikawa's commands.

The aquatic figures' arms then formed blades. "Weiss!" Noelle called out in concern, rushing to her friend's side.

"Kill them!" Yoshikawa commanded as his water puppets rushed the two girls.

"I guess this is what he really meant when he said a thousand beats two." Weiss noted. "That being said, I count...like a hundred."

"I really don't think now's the time to be making jokes, Weiss." Noelle muttered as the puppets neared them.

"Well, taking down large numbers of things is kind of my specialty as a Huntress." Weiss smiled confidently. "We fight monsters called Grimm and they almost always hunt in groups. Something like this is nothing!"

Weiss leapt into the crowd of puppets and began slashing them down one by one with Myrtenaster. The grace of a figure skater was gone, replaced with the image of one dancing in an almost ruthless fashion.

Noelle smiled slightly. _I guess she does have every reason to be confident._ She acknowledged. _I'm royalty, I can't allow myself to fall behind someone like this, especially considering in a fight between the two of us, I came out the winner._

With that, Noelle began firing off projectiles of water that blasted a puppet apart with each one that connected. _That's right, the two of us together are more than enough to shut this bastard down. No way are we going to lose to him!_ Noelle declared inwardly.

As Noelle continued to act as Weiss' long-ranged support, she could not help but note how unbelievable Weiss looked when swinging that rapier. _I wonder if this is how my brother felt when he watched Mother fight._ Noelle thought to herself. _She was supposed to be some sort of war maiden that danced gracefully on the battlefield, after all. Weiss fights like she's dancing as well._

 _I can't be like that...so I'll just focus on how I do things. I'll brutally push forward with all my strength!_ With that declaration, Noelle continued to fire into the crowd of water puppets, helping Weiss to clear them out as fast as they could.

Yoshikawa, however, had other ideas. He pointed his finger gun right at Weiss. _Idiots, the both of them. I'm well aware my Aquatic Festival can't beat you two, but when you have disposable soldiers like these...you can do something like this!_

With that, Yoshikawa fired another high-pressure blast of water from his finger tip. The blast was unseen by both Weiss and Noelle for one reason. Their vision was being obscured by the Aquatic Festival.

Then, a puppet standing right in front of Weiss exploded from the force of Yoshikawa's blast. The blast then struck Weiss right in the chest. Her Aura became visible. Her eyes widened in disbelief from the sheer force of the attack. Much like before, she was not damaged, but she still felt it. Then she remembered. _At the right force and pressure applied, water could destroy even steel._

"Weiss!" Noelle called out to Weiss in concern as she ran towards her friend.

Yoshikawa then trained his finger onto Noelle. A puppet then moved between the two of them, obscuring the Deacon from Noelle's vision. _I've got you!_ Yoshikawa excitedly thought before firing another blast from his finger tip.

The blast tore through the puppet between him and Noelle. Noelle gasped, seeing the blast of high-pressure water coming towards her. _Not good, need Mana Skin, now!_ Noelle frantically thought, trying to apply defensive Mana Skin to protect herself from Yoshikawa's attack.

"Noelle!" Weiss yelled as the blast hit Noelle right in the forehead.

As Noelle began to fall backwards, she formed a large ball of water and flug it right at Yoshikawa. Yoshikawa gasped in surprise as Noelle seemed to manage one last attack in a 'last gasp'. His shock prevented him from dodging and he was struck in the chest by Noelle's ball of water.

"Noelle!" Weiss yelled again, charging towards her friend to see if she was okay.

Weiss swung Myrtenaster, cutting down every single puppet in her way. She soon reached Noelle, checking to see if she was still alive from that attack. Her eyes then widened when she noticed Noelle smiling right up at her. _Give him hell._ She mouthed towards her.

Realizing that Noelle needed to play dead for a brief moment, Weiss turned her attention right to Yoshikawa. Yoshikawa frowned slightly. He was not fooled at all. He could sense that Noelle was still alive. _I don't know how she survived that headshot, but it looks like I at least incapacitated her._ Yoshikawa noted with relief. _Between the two of them, that one with the Water Magic was a far greater threat._

 _With her out of the way, victory is mine!_

"Still, I should probably make sure they're both dead." Yoshikawa noted, holding both his hands out in front of him. Water began to bubble and form in front of his palms. "Geyser Cannon!"

Weiss spun the revolver chamber in Myrtenaster in response as a giant blast of high-pressure water came rushing towards her and Noelle. She then created a giant white glyph to act as a wall.

Yoshikawa simply laughed at this. "That barrier of yours may have been able to stop my Geyser Cannon before, but you had multiple ones to help! One can't possibly stop my Geyser Cannon, no matter how large it is!"

"Now let's see how you die! Shattered bones? Drowning? Crushed to bits? Let's see how those adorable faces of yours are ripped to shreds!" Yoshikawa declared with sadistic glee.

Weiss then smirked as the Geyser Cannon neared her and her glyph. "You're right, this glyph wouldn't be strong enough to hold back your Geyser Cannon. That would be a problem...if it was designed to be defensive."

Yoshikawa's eyes widened. "What?" He said, wondering what Weiss meant by that.

Then, Yoshikawa's Geyser Cannon struck Weiss' glyph and immediately froze over into a giant column of ice. "What? The damn thing froze my attack?" Yoshikawa could not believe his eyes.

"Glyphs mixed with ice dust." Weiss revealed. "Schnees may be able to summon our defeated foes...but our greatest strength will always lie in what we can do with our glyphs!"

Weiss then spun the revolver chamber once more to wind dust. She quickly created a brand new glyph that suddenly blasted the column of ice right at Yoshikawa. _She used ice dust to stop my attack and wind dust to turn my attack against me!_ Yoshikawa realized. _Damn it, I was wrong! They're both equal threats, for very different reasons!_

"I won't let my own attack be what does me in, damn it!" Yoshikawa yelled before firing a blast of water that shattered the giant column of ice into pieces, creating a white mist that obscured Yoshikawa's vision.

Yoshikawa's eyes widened, realizing that this may have also been part of Weiss' plan. _Damn it!_ He cursed in fury as a line of glyphs suddenly appeared in front of him.

Then, Weiss came charging out like a speed skater. Yoshikawa had no time to react as he was slashed across the chest by Myrtenaster. "Agh!" The Deacon yelled as he stumbled back from the force of Weiss' slash. The Huntress in training skidded to a stop behind him.

"You little...this won't be enough to stop me!" Yoshikawa snarled, turning to strike Weiss from behind.

"Of course not, you're pretty strong after all." Weiss smirked. "That's why all this...was meant to distract you. Isn't that right, Noelle?"

Yoshikawa's eyes widened. _No way!_ He yelled inwardly, turning back around.

"Damn straight," the mist cleared, revealing Noelle had finished charging up a particularly powerful spell. She smiled at Weiss. "Thanks Weiss, you bought me the time I needed."

 _This level of power...not good!_ Yoshikawa frantically noted, quickly creating an attack of his own to try and stop Noelle's attack.

"Water Creation Magic…" Noelle began as her magic began to form into a familiar sea dragon.

"This isn't over!" Yoshikawa yelled as his attack formed into a large drill bit made of water. "I'll rip that dragon in half! Piercing Oceanic Drill!"

Yoshikawa fired the water drill bit at Noelle. "Sea Dragon's Roar!" Noelle yelled, launching the water dragon at Yoshikawa.

 _That attack is an even stronger version of my Piercing Hydro Lance. It consumes a tremendous amount of Reiki. But it will get her for sure!_

 _Enjoy watching your final hope be blasted to bits, you fool!_ Yoshikawa declared as the sea dragon opened its mouth as the drill bit neared it.

Yoshikawa's Piercing Oceanic Drill then clashed with Noelle's Sea Dragon's Roar. The shockwave between two powerful attacks that resulted nearly blew both individuals right off their feet. Yoshikawa kept his confident smirk. "It'll drill right through you, your hope is gone!" He declared.

Noelle's smirk, however, threw him off guard. It was the smirk of someone who believed they had already won. "My hope is gone? Sorry, but you couldn't be more wrong." She claimed. "Because as long as I know my friends are behind me, supporting me, I can push through anything with everything I've got! My hope is them and their love and support for me!"

"So how about I drill through your attack instead, you bastard!" Noelle yelled. "And then I'll drill into you!"

The Sea Dragon's Roar then smashed right through the Piercing Oceanic Drill. "Wh-what?!" Yoshikawa gasped in disbelief.

 _Okay, calm down, I can just dodge it and then...wait, why can't I move?_ Yoshikawa gasped, feeling that he was indeed stuck in place.

"You forgot about me, didn't you?" Yoshikawa's eyes widened at the sound of Weiss's voice. "I created a time-dilation glyph to slow you down. Like we've been saying. It's the two of us, so we're more than enough to shut you down!"

With that, Weiss moved out of the way, leaving Yoshikawa alone to take the full brunt of Noelle's mighty attack. At that moment, Yoshikawa realized they were right. They were enough for him. Two was indeed better than one. And it was still hard for him to comprehend. "WHAT THE HELL?!" Yoshikawa could only exclaim in disbelief as the Sea Dragon's Roar was right in front of him.

The powerful attack collided with the Deacon, hitting him with enough force to wrench him free from Weiss' time-dilation glyph. Weiss and Noelle watched with looks of triumph as their foe was flung into the air, mouth and eyes wide open in a silent scream. The Deacon then landed flat on his back and laid there, motionlessly.

At that moment, it fully registered with Weiss and Noelle that they had beaten their foe. The two then smiled at one another and cheered. "Alright!" Weiss yelled.

"The victory is ours!" Noelle added as the two 'princesses' of the group hi-fived.

"Your glyphs are amazing, Weiss!" Noelle complimented. "Seriously, I'd be in trouble against you if I wasn't able to fall back on how destructive my magic is."

Weiss laughed. "Yeah, but honestly, it was all it took just to keep up with you." She admitted. "Semblances can drain your stamina, and that was no exception."

Weiss tumbled a little, Noelle caught her. "Whoa, you weren't kidding." Noelle gasped.

"Don't worry, I just need to catch my breath." Weiss assured her. "Sorry if I'm worrying you, it's just with how awesome you were doing, I just didn't want to get left behind."

Noelle smiled. "It all worked out, so great job, Weiss." She said sincerely.

Meanwhile, Yami Sukehiro grinned in anticipation, readying his katana and his Dark Magic for battle with his lanky, long-haired foe. "I am Suzukaze of the Slashing Tempest. I carve a bloody path in the name of my god." Suzukaze properly introduced himself.

"Cool, I'm Yami Sukehiro and I really don't care." Yami responded.

"The Destroyer God of the Magic Knights. You I have certainly heard of." Suzukaze acknowledged. "The remnants of the Eye of the Midnight Sun warned us of you, Sukehiro."

"I heard you guys are holding the Eye of the Midnight Sun by the balls by controlling their leader, Patolli." Yami claimed. "Kind of a low blow, don't you think."

"Only a few of them." Suzukaze shrugged. "The others fell in line surprisingly easily. This may surprise you, Sukehiro but most terrorists don't really need a reason to accept a free pass to destroy everything in sight. The only ones who needed to be _persuaded_ as such were those Third Eye fools."

"You know, the fact you can say that without any empathy should piss me off, but I've kinda figured you were the bad guys, so of course you wouldn't have any empathy." Yami snarkily noted.

Suzukaze responded by swinging his sword, sending out crescent-shaped waves of wind. Yami easily blocked them with his katana. "Oh, good, we're starting, I was getting sick of this nonsense anyway."

"My, my, you are an odd one." Suzukaze mused.

Yami responded by rushing Suzukaze with a battle-hungry grin on his face. "Dark Magic: Dark Cloaked Lightless Slash!" Yami yelled, sending a flying slash of dark magic at Suzukaze.

Suzukaze then smirked. "But, I can sense your lust for battle from here. I think I'm going to enjoy this." He claimed before slashing in the shape of a cross. "Cross Kamaitachi!"

With that, Suzukaze sent a cross-shaped slash of wind that clashed against Yami's Lightless Slash. Yami then leapt right at Suzukaze, katana raised high. _He's gutsy to try to fight me at close range...or rather, perhaps he thinks because my Art is wind-based, I can't fight up close and personal._

 _Truth be told, we're actually quite similar, Yami Sukehiro!_ Suzukaze declared inwardly before swinging his blade horizontally. Steel met steel as Suzukaze's katana clashed against Yami's.

Suzukaze then tapped his foot on the ground, creating a gust of wind that blew him away from Yami, allowing him to put some distance between the two. Yami grinned. "You're not getting away that easily, Suzukaze!" He declared, turning the blade of his katana upwards.

 _Another one of those Lightless Slashes?_ Suzukaze was confused. _Why use the same technique when he already knows it doesn't work._

"Dark Magic: Dark Cloaked Black Blade!" Yami yelled, swinging upwards. Suzukaze then gasped when he saw darkness extend from the blade. He was wrong. Yami was not attacking with a flying slash. He was attacking with something to extend his regular blade. And because he had guessed wrong, Suzukaze could not stop the attack.

Suzukaze grunted in pain as he felt Yami's Black Blade slash through his flesh. _I see the Magic Knight Captains indeed aren't to be underestimated. This is exactly why I warned my subordinates not to discount men like this after word of Cardinal Yakuma's rampage got out. Cardinal Yakuma is one thing, we are another._

Suzukaze sighed. _And it appears my men are dead, too. They must've run into quite the monster. Hmm...well, whoever that man is, he's run into quite the monster as well. That Black Knight...he really is an oddity…_

 _Ah, right, I shouldn't be too distracted. I myself am fighting quite a monster._

Suzukaze then watched as Yami rushed him once more. He responded by stabbing into the ground. "Rising Cyclone!" He yelled as a massive cyclone sprung up in front of him, blasting Yami into the air.

"Was definitely not expecting this…" Yami mused nonchalantly before looking out to see the open waters. "...huh, I guess when we do finally leave, we have quite the trip ahead of us. That's a lot of ocean."

"Wild Kamaitachi!" Yami looked down to see Suzukaze swinging his katana wildly, sending out a flurry of crescent-shaped wind slashes.

"Dark Magic," Yami quickly countered by swinging his blade wildly as well, "Dark Cloaked Lightless Slash Storm!"

Suzukaze watched as Yami's own flurry of dark slashes cancelled out his flurry. Yami then landed on the ground. He quickly rushed Suzukaze once more, firing off a few more Lightless Slashes for good measure. Suzukaze responded by blocking those slashes with his bare blade. Then, as Yami neared him, Suzukaze held his blade out in front of him, as though he were about to stab forward. And he did.

"Jukendo!" Suzukaze yelled.

Yami gasped slightly at the sight. _Jukendo...just like back home._ He noted. _A kendo style likened to sojutsu...spear fighting. So it's a thrust forward._

 _And with my reaction time...something like this is easily avoided!_ Yami pivoted and spun past the thrust, preparing to take Suzukaze's head off with a single swing.

Suzukaze smirked. "This was only part one of the technique." He revealed. "Jukendo: Tempest Buzzsaw!"

Slashing winds suddenly appeared on the sides of Suzukaze's katana, digging into Yami's side like a buzzsaw. Yami grunted in pain. His swing stopped dead in its tracks. _Well that was a rookie mistake._ He groaned inwardly. _I should've realized he'd have something like this up his sleeve!_

 _Well, I'd never have made it as far as I have if I let a mistake stop me!_ Gritting his teeth, Yami blocked out the pain as best as he could before resuming his attack.

He could not regain his momentum and decapitate Suzukaze, so he kicked the Deacon away from him instead. Suzukaze gasped at Yami's pain tolerance. _He managed to fight through the pain to separate us!_

"Dark Magic!" Yami yelled, pointing his katana right at Suzukaze. "Dark Cloaked Black Spear!"

A pointed black line shot out from the tip of Yami's katana, piercing through Suzukaze's stomach. _A new spell? He's just filled with surprises!_ Suzukaze noted, eyes wide from the pain.

Suzukaze dug his feet in the ground and placed both hands on his katana. He could not help but smile slightly, sincerely growing to appreciate Yami as an opponent. _I must admit, even I had miscalculated how much of a threat this man was._ He admitted inwardly. _I rarely use Jukendo because of how easily people at my level of strength and above can avoid it. However, this man's reckless abandon for the sake of victory...actually forced me to invent a new technique on the spot._

 _Out of respect, I shall bring him down with one of the two strongest techniques in my repertoire. This technique...even places the Bishops on guard!_

Suzukaze raised his blade into the air. "You have been a superb opponent, Yami Sukehiro, but it is over now. I will now push myself to the limit and crush you!" He declared.

Yami grinned, noticing the familiarity of Suzukaze's new sword stance. It was kendo. "Bring it then!" He yelled, charging right at Suzukaze with that reckless abandon the Deacon had come to admire.

"Kendo," Suzukaze began as a massive amount of wind swirled around the blade, turning it into a giant blade of wind, "Falling Tempest!"

"Dark Magic…" Yami muttered quietly, beginning to swing his katana forward, his grimoire going to work.

As the Falling Tempest struck the ground and enveloped Yami, the sheer destructive force of the tempest created a fissure that went all the way into the forest of Whale Island. Suzukaze smiled slightly, thinking he had been victorious. "A splendid fight, Yami Sukehiro…" He said before a black blade came out of nowhere and not only slashed through his katana, but his body as well.

Suzukaze's eyes widened. _What?_ He could only think as the blade fell to the ground. Now, he was only holding the hilt.

Yami then revealed himself, inside of what appeared to be a black cocoon of sorts. Inside, he was grinning, and somewhat bloodied, but grinning all the same. Suzukaze gasped. "You cast a defensive spell at the last moment!"

"Dark Magic: Black Cocoon," Yami revealed, "of course, I knew it wouldn't stop your attack completely. I just needed the damage mitigated. And with the Black Cocoon cracked like an egg, I could see exactly what I needed: you."

Suzukaze managed to grin in spite of the pain he was in from this latest wound. _Seriously, this guy...he just doesn't give a damn. He'll push past anything to win. Pain, low odds of victory, all of it._

"Still, I have to admit, I was actually a bit concerned when you started breaking through the Black Cocoon. That Falling Tempest was damn strong." Yami said sincerely.

"You used one of your strongest techniques on me, so I figured the best thing I had to do was put my all in surviving it." Yami told him. "Sorry I couldn't respect you back by hitting you with an attack just as strong. I'd rather not destroy this island. I happen to like one of the residents. He's a good kid."

"No, it's fine. A trick like this is permitted in a fight for survival." Suzukaze told Yami before blasting the Magic Knight Captain away with a gust of wind. He then picked up his hiltless blade and sighed, dropping the hilt and sheathing the blade.

"I must admit, Yami Sukehiro, you dealt some impressive damage. Kudos to you." Suzukaze told him. "I had been curious about the Magic Knights after hearing the report from Cardinal Yakuma and his men...and you have not disappointed."

"In any other situation...this would be my limit." Suzukaze acknowledged. "And so, out of respect for one of the finest opponents I've ever thought. Allow me to break that limit and show you my other strongest technique."

"Truth be told, when killing people, I prefer to do so directly. Their deaths already have meaning, so I at least want them to feel they have meaning when I kill them with my own blade." Suzukaze explained. "So I don't use this technique as often as you may think. It's just not...personal enough for my tastes."

"But now that you've broken my blade, allow me to show you the true strength of my Art: Tempest."

"Zone of Death: Reaper's Tempest!" Suzukaze yelled as the wind suddenly picked up around him Yami.

Then, much to Yami's surprise, a dome of razor wind formed around them, making the violent winds even stronger. _What the hell…_

Then, suddenly, a slash of wind came out of nowhere, striking Yami across the back. Then one hit him across the chest. "Gah!" Yami yelled in pain.

"The Zone of Death, the ultimate killing-technique. Another technique that would even give a Bishop pause." Suzukaze revealed. "All who step inside this zone are marked for death by the Reaper's Tempest."

Yami continued to be slashed repeatedly by the Reaper's Tempest. "This tempest will seek out any life inside of the zone and will attack them repeatedly until those inside collapse."

"Then why the hell aren't you getting slashed?" Yami demanded. "You cheating?"

"No, I happen to be standing inside of the lone protection zone of a 3 meter radius." Suzukaze shook his head. "As long as I remain here, I can simply watch you die, Yami."

"Sounds like all I have to do is step into that protection zone and kick your ass." Yami noted.

Yami then managed to block one of the slashes, only to take another to the back. "That's not going to happen I'm afraid. You simply don't have it in you to block all of my attacks." Suzukaze calmly told him. "Up, down, left and right, you cannot anticipate all of my attacks. You are doomed against me now, Yami."

 _He's right, I can predict these attacks with ki, but the problem is, these attacks come so fast and from so many different angles, I can't pick up on them all!_ Yami realized.

"Mana Skin!" Yami yelled, covering himself in a reinforced barrier of Mana.

"An interesting tactic, but all you've done is delayed the inevitable. Accept your end with dignity and grace, Yami. One befitting the finest opponent I've come across." Suzukaze told him.

"Screw that," Yami responded with a grin, "just you watch, Suzukaze. Now that you've pushed me into a corner, this will be where I push past my limits!"

Suzukaze frowned at this. _Funny...I actually want to see if he can do it._

Yami tried to push his ki further and further to try and block the slashes and to make sure his Mana Skin does not break before he breaks his limits. _After everything I've been through, after everything I've done for Lord Julius and my idiot subordinates...there's no way in hell a man like me is going to die in a place like this!_ Yami screamed inwardly.

" _You really think my Dark Magic is a blessing, Captain Julius?"_ A young Yami Sukehiro asked Julius Novachrono, Captain of the Grey Deer at the time.

" _Of course, because it is a reflection of how much you care, Yami."_ Julius had told him. _"Darkness envelops everything. Just as you, no matter how much you want to deny it, want to envelop the things that are precious to you and protect it."_

" _If you say I'm that sappy again, I'm going to kill you."_

Julius had just laughed. _"So you say, Yami, but you can't deny what's in your heart. You will grow into a fine man because you are kinder than most in this world."_

 _Guess I really can't deny it anymore._ Yami smiled inwardly.

 _That's right, I am darkness itself. A darkness that envelops my foes...a darkness that envelops the things that are precious to me. So that I can protect what is precious to me!_ Yami declared. _And if everything I've been through hasn't broken me down, neither will this! I will surpass my limits, and my darkness will envelop you too, Suzukaze!_

And with that declaration, two new pages appeared in Yami Sukehiro's grimoire. Yami grinned, knowing exactly how he was going to win now. _You were wrong to think that Reiki can't be absorbed by non-Reiki techniques. Or rather, you just didn't consider all the possibilities._ He thought, remembering Vangeance's words to him after the fight with Yakuma. _In the end, what made Vangeance's technique fail...was that his roots were treated like regular roots, absorbing something that shouldn't be fed to roots, like actual plants._

 _However, darkness is different. Darkness is a gravity that envelops and absorbs everything! No matter what it is!_

"Mana Zone!" Yami yelled as a dome suddenly surrounded Suzukaze, Yami and the Zone of Death. A black hole suddenly appeared above the Zone of Death and below the top of the dome. "Dark Magic: Black Moon!"

At that moment, Suzukaze noticed something that worried him tremendously. The slashes from the Reaper's Tempest were beginning to weaken. _What is happening...wait, that technique!_ Suzukaze's eyes widened. _No, it can't be!_

Suzukaze then saw the black hole just above his weakening Zone of Death. _That black hole...it's...drawing in my Reiki!_

 _I don't need to absorb all of it._ Yami noted, sheathing his katana. _Just enough to weaken the effects of this technique, so that I can focus all my strength into this one final blow._

As the effects began to weaken, Suzukaze realized his Zone of Death no longer had the strength to cut through Yami's Mana Skin. He looked at his ruined blade. _I must end this here!_

Suzukaze winced. _Damn it, he also drew in my own Reiki...and I've used so much of my Reiki after using two of my strongest attacks in such quick succession. I need to go for a short-ranged attack to end this, like my Jukendo!_

Suzukaze used the Vanishing Walk to speed towards Yami. _Track him with your ki, Yami._ Yami reminded himself as he condensed Black Moon into his sheathed katana. _And then, when he's in range...hit him with the finishing blow that will end this!_

 _I thank you Suzukaze, I enjoyed this fight as well!_

"Tempest Slash!" Suzukaze yelled, using a basic slashing technique aimed right at Yami's neck. It was all he had the energy to use.

"Dark Magic: Dark Cloaked…" Yami rapidly unsheathed his sword, striking Suzukaze across the abdomen. "Iai Slash!"

Suzukaze's eyes widened at the force of Yami's Iai Slash. A fatal blow, right across the abdomen. He could feel the blood flow freely below him. He fell to his knees. "I've...lost." He realized.

Yami sighed. "Yeah, you did." He said.

Suzukaze smiled slightly. "Guess...I was just a step too slow, huh?" He noted. "Still...I can think of worse ways to go out. That was...a hell of a fight, Yami"

"Well...done…" Suzukaze fell forward, dead before he hit the ground.

Yami heaved a sigh, sheathing his katana and lighting a cigarette. "It really is too bad, Suzukaze." He admitted. "If we weren't enemies...I would've offered you a drink, instead of a fight. Rotten bastard you were, for fighting for a genocidal cult...you might not have been that bad a guy in different circumstances."

"If there is a shared afterlife in this big, big universe of ours, when I bite the big one, let's see if we can share that drink." Yami told his defeated foe.

Yami then groaned, falling onto his rear. "Damn, that fight took more out of me than I thought. Sorry, everyone, guess I'm going to have to rest for a bit."

However, while Sojiro's group had achieved several victories already, the same could not be said for three other fights. Asta was currently getting tossed around by Moriboshi's vines. Suddenly, a particularly large vine rose up and slammed Asta into the ground, creating a crater. "D-damn it…" Asta groaned in pain. "What is up with this guy? He's running circles around me."

"Meteor Jab!" Elsewhere, Enko fired a blast of fireballs from her fists that struck Izuku Midoriya in multiple areas.

Izuku yelled in pain. She was catching up to his Full Cowling at 20%. "Those flames...they're as hot as Shoto's!" He realized.

And finally, Ruby Rose attempted to strike Hotaru with Crescent Rose, only to be surrounded by balls of light. "Firefly Lightshow!"

The balls of light transformed into beams of light that struck Ruby in multiple places, making her scream in pain and allowing Hotaru to safely speed away with Vanishing Walk. "Swarming Fireflies!" She yelled as balls of light appeared behind her before firing at Ruby with laser beams.

Ruby gasped and managed to dodge, only for Hotaru to close the distance between them and kick her in the stomach, knocking her further back. "This is just getting sad." Hotaru taunted with a cruel smile. "You promised you'd fight and protect those kids and the other people of this island, right?"

"I can't believe your mouth just went and wrote a check that your body just can't cash." Hotaru sighed. "That's just lame."

"I can...still fight!" Ruby declared.

"Of course you can," Hotaru rolled her eyes before sighing again, "you know, I honestly don't get you…"

Enko seemingly picked up the speech, giving Izuku the same speech. "You're not from this world, right? Why are you here risking your life for these people?"

"They are strangers to you," Moriboshi gave the same speech to Asta as well, "there is no reason for you to fight to protect them. No reason to die for their sake."

Asta glared at Moriboshi. He got to his feet without hesitation and responded. "No reason?" He yelled furiously.

Izuku took a deep breath. "Yeah, maybe there is no reason for you." He said. "Because you're right, these people are strangers to me."

"But they are still people with lives, hopes and dreams." Ruby reminded her foe. "Lives, hopes and dreams that you want to stomp on, for some idiotic reason! That's all the reason I need!"

With that, the three young aspiring heroes dug their heels in, glaring at their foes, resolving themselves to fight their foes until the bitter end, and to protect the people of Whale Island from the Cult of the End."

"That's why I'm going to protect them!" All three young heroes declared in unison, ready to continue the fight for Whale Island.

 **A.N: So we've got some victories. Yang took advantage of her prosthetic arm. Weiss and Noelle took advantage of their numbers and teamwork. And Yami was simply...Yami. Still, the fact that Yami had trouble with a Deacon should give you an idea of how much of a threat these guys are to this world.**

 **I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. Next time, a chapter devoted to Ruby, Izuku and Asta.**


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